ABSTRACT
To understand how often and how well medical and nursing students use information and data on the Internet for selflearning, we conducted a survey of students in the first through fourth years at Kochi Medical School. To allow comparison we also conducted a small survey of medical students at Maastricht University. These surveys indicated several problems in the use of the Internet by students at Kochi Medical School.
ABSTRACT
Effects of hyperthermia on the formation of platelet-derived microparticles (MP) and the expression of surface CD62 antigen were examined in normal human platelets. Venous blood from healthy subjects, anticoagulated with 1 volume of 3.8% sodium citrate, was heated at 37°C (control), 42°C and 47°C for 15 minutes. Then 2μl of each sample was incubated with FITC or PE-conjugated anti-human CD42b or CD62 antibodies, and assayed for MP and CD62 by flow cytometry. The percentage of MP after the incubation was not significantly different from that before the incubation nor that of control (9.9±0.6% before incubation, 10.2±0.6% at 37°C, 10.8±0.4% at 42°C and 10.3±0.3% at 47°C), CD62 positive-platelets slightly increased after the incubation, but no significant differences were observed between the control value and the values at 42°C and 47°C (1.6±0.3% at 37°C, 1.9±0.5% at 42°C and 1.7±0.3% at 47°C). These data suggest that hyperthermia has only a weak stimulatory effect on platelets and is unable to induce MP formation.
ABSTRACT
It is well known that exercise affects white blood cells. However, most studies on these effects were conducted on athletic persons or inactive persons. Therefore, we attempted to investigate the effects of exercise on leukocyte subsets in non-athletic healthy persons. The study was conducted on a total of 10 non-athletic healthy volunteers consisting of five men and five women. Blood samples were collected in the resting stage (B1), immediately after exercise (B2), and in the recovery phase (B3). Treadmill exercise was performed using the Bruce treadmill protocol. The mean recovery time of heart rate in the recovery phase was 6.6±0.6 minutes. Total leukocytes increased from 7, 290/μl to 10, 990/μl at the end of exercise (B2) mainly due to the increase in lymphocytes. The percentage of CD56 positive cells (mostly NK cells) in the lymphocyte population increased, CD3 positive cells (mostly T cells) decreased, and CD20 positive cells (mostly B cells) did not change immediately after exercise. The proportion of CD4 positive cells (mostly T helper/inducer cells) decreased after exercise (B2), whereas CD8 positive cells (mostly T cytotoxic/suppressor cells) were relatively unaffected. As a result, the ratio of CD4 to CD8 decreased. These changes almost returned to the pre-exercised levels in the recovery phase (B3). The cytotoxic capacity of the blood cell improved markedly immediately after exercise. However, the effect was transient.
ABSTRACT
Effects of hot-spring bathing on plasma concentrations of diuresis-related hormones were examined. Four healthy males were asked to bath in either 47°C hot-spring water for 3 minutes (jikan-yu) or 42°C hot-spring water for 10 min. Plasma levels of human atrial natriuretic polypeptide (HANP), anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), aldosterone (ALD), and endothelin (ET) were measured at 0, 5, 15, and 30 minutes after the start of the immersion. A transient rise was found only in plasma HANP at 5 minutes in the 42°C bath, which may have been induced by the hydrostatic pressure. Plasma concentrations of ADH, ALD, and ET hormones showed no remarkable change.<br>These results suggest that a few minutes of hot-spring bathing may have little influence on the amount of these hormones secreted.