ABSTRACT
High levels of negative ions have been detected in the air in forests, at spas, near waterfalls, and so forth, and there have been reported that they have a favorable effect on human beings' feeling of comfort and their feeling of fatigue. In this study we prepared an experimental room in which it was possible to maintain temperature constant at 25°C and constant humidity, and turn the supply of negative ions on and off, and in addition to assessing comfort level and fatigue level subjectively, we assessed them by means of the -wave component of the EEG, which indicates the degree of relaxation, and by auditory evoked potential P300, which reflects attentiveness and degree of fatigue.<br>Methods: The subjects were 15 healthy physicians and nurses. The experiment was conducted in a room maintained at a constant temperature of 25°C and a constant humidity of 50% during a 2-hour period on different days without informing the subjects of whether the air was loaded with negative ions or not. Constant temperature and humidity were maintained, and the level of negative ions was adjusted by using a shinki genertor (Geochto Ltd.). The parameters measured were determined with a flicker test and P300 (auditory evoked) test, and the α-wave ratio was calculated from the 60-minute closed-eye resting EEG.<br>Results: A higher percentage of subjects reported subjective comfort when the air was loaded with neagtive ions (6/15, 40%) than when it was not (4/15, 27%).<br>Significant difference was not observed in the P300 tests, but the α<sub>2</sub> (10-13Hz) ratio of the EEG and flicker test tended to be higher with negative ion-air than without nagative ion-air.
ABSTRACT
Stellate ganglion radiation by polarized light (SGR) and placebo radiation were applied to healthy adults to compare the effects on the autonomic nervous system and electroencephalogram (EEG) of these radiations and the following results were obtained:<br>(1) The pulse rate tended to decrease during and after both SGR and placebo radiation. In contrast, the systolic blood pressure tended to increase during and after both radiations. No significant difference between radiations was found in either the pulse rate or systolic blood pressure. The coefficient of variation of the pulse rate (CV-PR), which reflects conditon of the cardiovascular parasympathetic nervous function, tended to increase during and after SGR and tended to decrease during placebo radiation. The value of CV-PR was significantly higher after SGR than after placebo radiation.<br>(2) The surface skin temperature of the lower extremities after SGR was slightly higher than that after placebo radiation, but the temperature of the upper extremities did not show any difference between SGR and placebo radiation.<br>(3) The relative power of alpha-2 wave as determined by quantitative EEG tended to be greater during and after SGR than during and after placebo radiation. The value 10min after SGR was significantly higher than after placebo radiation.<br>These results suggested that SGR activated the cardiovascular parasympathetic nervous function and relatively suppressed the cardiovascular sympathetic nervous function. We concluded that SGR influences not only the cardiovascular autonomic nervous system and surface skin temperature of the lower extremities, but also a wide range of EEG.
ABSTRACT
Two experiments were performed to clarify the effects of balneotherapy on platelet glutathione metabolism. One experiment, in which healthy men were subjected to water immersion at temperatures of 25°C, 36°C, and 42°C for 10min, showed that the level of platelet lipid peroxides (LPO) tended to increase at 25°C and 42°C, suggesting the presence of oxidative stress at these temperatures. When an antioxidative defense system was induced at these temperatures, the levels of platelet glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione reductase (GR) activities increased. The other experiment, in which 4 weeks of balneotherapy was applied to type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic patients, showed that the level of GSH on admission correlated well with that of fasting plasma glucose (FPG, r=0.692, p<0.050). After 4 weeks of balneotherpy, the level of GSH increased (p<0.01) in well-controlled patients (FPG<150mg/dl) and decreased (p<0.05) in poorly controlled patients (FPG≥150mg/dl), There was a negative correlation between GPX activities and the level of FPG (r=-0.430, p<0.05). After the balneotherapy, the activity increased in five patients, decreased in three patients, and showed no changes in four patients.<br>These results indicate that, in diabetic patients, 1) platelet GSH synthesis is obviously induced in response to oxidative stress, 2) lowered GPX activities suggest an impaired antioxidative defense system, and 3) platelet glutathione metabolism was partly improved by 4 weeks of balneotherapy but depended on the control status of plasma glucose levels. From these findings, we conclude that 1) patients whose platelet antioxidative defense system is damaged such as those with diabetes mellitus should not take hot or cold bath, and that 2) balneotherapy improves platelet glutathione metabolism, leading to normalization of platelet aggregability.
ABSTRACT
Clinical effect of a new TENS apparatus SOMA DYNE and its influence on blood constituents were studied.<br>1. Treatment was performed for four consecutive days, 10min a day, in the patients with chronic pain in their various parts of the bodies. After the treatment, the range of movement (ROM) was improved in fifty out of fifty-two patients (96%).<br>2. Effect of electrotherapy on blood constituent was examined in six male normal controls after treatment for two consecutive days, 10min a day.<br>1) Red blood cell counts, levels of hemoglobin and hematocrit decreased. Whole white blood cell (WBC) counts decreased; however, no changes were observed in analysis of WBC.<br>2) Levels of serum sodium and calcium decreased, whereas those of potassium increased.<br>3) Levels of plasma adrenaline and endorphin decreased.<br>These changes suggest that<br>1. SOMA DYNE is very effective for the patient with chronic somatic pain.<br>2. Electrotherapy may affect the cell ion channels.<br>3. Sympathetic nerve activity decreases by the treatment.
ABSTRACT
Coefficients of variation were calculated for pulse rate (CV-PR) and blood pressure (CV-BP) under various respiratory conditions using a non-invasive method (the Finapres method), and the respiratory resonant phenomenon between pulse-rate variability and blood-pressure fluctuation was investigated. Subjects of this study included 148 healthy adults, 75 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and 64 patients with vibration syndrome (VS).<br>During deep breathing of healthy adults in the sitting position, CV-PR was closely correlated with the coefficient of variation for diastolic blood pressure (CV-dBP) (R=0.75, p<0.01). Although CV-PR has been used as an index of autonomic nervous functions, it is strongly influenced by blood pressure and respiratory depth, so CV-PR itself is not suitable for investigating the present phenomena and seems to require correction.<br>The corrected value (as obtained by dividing CV-PR by CV-dBP) in healthy adults during deep breathing in the sitting position was 1.05±0.21, extremely close to 1.0. This value decreased significantly with age (p<0.01) and was significantly lower (0.59+0.29) in the patients with DM than in healthy control adults (p<0.001). The value for the patients with VS was not significantly lower than that in the normal control adults. In the patients with VS and positive Raynaud's phenomenon, a significant decrease in value with age was noted (p<0.01), whereas the patients with VS and negative Raynaud's phenomenon showed no change in value with age.<br>The coefficients of variation for pulse rate and blood pressure with their corrected values seemed to be useful as general indices of the sensitivity of several cardiovascular vagal reflexes including the baroreceptor reflex, which is probably involved in the present phenomenon. In addition, an examination of this phenomenon was found to be useful for determining the degree of complications in patients with DM and for assessing the peripheral circulatory function and therapeutic effects of balneotherapy on patients with VS.
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine the effect of exercise training on heat-shock response, the protective response to heat, oxidative stress and other stresses characterized by elevated synthesis of heat-shock proteins (HSP), in strenuous exercise. Five untrained men (aged 20-21 ) participated in the study. The protocol included strenuous exercise to exhaustion by bicycle ergometer (1 st Ex), 4 weeks of training (a 2 km run three days per week) and a repetition of the strenuous exercise (2 nd Ex) . We measured VO<SUB>2</SUB> and VCO<SUB>2</SUB> with a respiratorygas analyzer, 70 kDa heat-shock protein (HSP 70) of mononuclear cells by western blotting, and rectal and mean skin temperatures by thermistors during the strenuous exercise. After 4 weeks of training, VO<SUB>2</SUB>max was increased significantly (p<0.05) . HSP 70 increased immediately after the exercise in 3 of 5 subjects in the 1 st Ex, but not in the 2 nd Ex. Rectal temperatures rose significantly after both the 1 st and 2 nd Ex (p<0.05) . Mean skin temperatures fell significantly after both the 1 st and 2 nd Ex (p<0.05) . There was no correlation between rectal and mean skin temperatures and HSP 70. We observed the heat-shock response during strenuous exercise and the attenuation of this response after 4 weeks of exercise training. These results suggest that exercise training may have suppressive effects on the heat-shock response during strenuous exercise.
ABSTRACT
when the relation between N20 and LLR was examined based on the results of somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) and long-loop reflexes (LLRs) obtained from 50 upper limbs of 25 normal subjects by stimulating the median nerve, four regions were set up in a latency correlation diagram. N20 and LLR were assumed to represent mainly the afferent and the efferent functions, respectively. The results of N20 and LLR obtained from 70 upper limbs of patients with multiple sclerosis were discriminated according to the presence or absence of pyramidal sign and/or vibratory sense impairment and were plotted on the four regions of the diagram. As a result, asymptomatic lesion in the afferent pathway was found in 5 out of 18 cases (28%) and that in the efferent pathway, in 9 out of 17 cases (41%). Simultaneous measurement of SEPs and LLRs is useful for evaluating the afferent and efferent pathways in the central nervous system, and those results are useful for programming and evaluating rehabilitation of patients with multiple scleosis.
ABSTRACT
Degeneration of facial nerve and the facial movement in patients with peripheral facial nerve palsy in early stages must be assessed. Therefore, we conducted electroneurography (ENoG) and blink reflex (BR) tests on 30 patients with unilateral peripheral facial nerve palsy.<br>In the ENoG test, transcutaneous electrical stimulation was applied to the trunk of the facial nerve on the stylomastoid foramen and the response (M-wave) evoked from the bilateral orbicularis oculi muscle was measured. The ratio of M-wave amplitude on the paralyzed side to that on the normal side was then calcu-lated.<br>In the blink reflex response test, transcutaneous electrical stimulation was applied to the supraorbital nerves and the response evoked from the orbicularis oculi muscle was measured. The response consisted of an early ipsilateral component, R1, and a late bilateral component, R2. Further, the ratio of R2 amplitude on the normal side to that on the paralyzed side and the difference in latencies of R2 between paralyzed side and normal side were calculated from each waveform thus obtained.<br>Facial muscle movement was assessed according to the grading system proposed by the Japan Society of Facial Nerve Research (in which the normal state is represented by 40 points). After examining the relationships between the score and some parameters in ENoG and BR (the ratio of M-wave amplitude, the ratio of R2 amplitude, the difference between the two sides on the latencies of R2) on each patient, we found close correlations between the score and some parameters. In summary, assessment of ENoG and BR was useful for evaluating the clinical severity of peripheral facial nerve palsy.