Sweat Potassium Decreases with Increased Sweating in Perimenopausal Women.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between rate of sweat production and sweat potassium concentration in premenopausal (PreM), perimenopausal (PeriM) and postmenopausal (PostM) women after a moderate exercise. Study Design: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in May 2012 at the Department of Physiology, University of Benin, Nigeria. Methods: Thirty healthy female volunteers comprising of PreM (aged: 22.5±0.8 yrs, n = 10), PeriM (aged: 46.5±1.1 yrs, n = 10), and PostM (aged: 52.2±0.9 yrs, n=10) participated in the study. Sweat was obtained with a sweat suction apparatus from a 120 cm2 circular area marked on the skin of the face and neck after a 15 min walk on a calibrated treadmill at a speed of 4.2 km/h at 27°C and a relative humidity of 85-95%, followed by measurement of sweat volume (SV) and [K+]. Sweat rate (SR) was determined by dividing the volume of sweat produced by the duration of exercise. Thirst perception (TP) was self-rated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Results: The PeriM women demonstrated higher SR (ml/min) (P = .01) and SV (ml) (P = .0006) compared to women in the other groups: SR (PeriM = 0.12±0.01; PreM = 0.07±0.02; PostM = 0.06±0.01), and SV (PeriM = 1.7±0.2; PostM = 0.9±0.1). However, they had lower sweat [K+] (mmol/l) (P = .04), compared to their PostM counterparts (PeriM = 19.98±1.5; PostM = 24.90±1.8). Furthermore, sweat [K+] was inversely associated with SR (r = -0.4, P = .02). Also, change in TP (cm) was highest (P = .001) in the PeriM women (PeriM = 2.5±0.2; PreM = 2.1±0.3; PostM = 0.99±0.2). Conclusion: Although excessive sweating can lead to depletion of the body's potassium concentration, the sweat potassium concentration decreases with increased sweating especially in perimenopausal women. This requires further investigation, as it could be an adaptive mechanism inhibiting excessive potassium loss.

Systemic Kampo Treatment for Dermatologic Diseases / 日本東洋医学雑誌

In Kampo medicine, chronic dermatitis is considered to be associated with unstable interaction among Ki, Ketsu and Sui. Urticaria is resistant to standard treatments in modern western medicine, so we applied a Kampo approach to improve imbalance among Ki, Ketsu and Sui. In this paper, we report three cases of chronic urticaria treated with Kampo medicines, i.e., main prescriptions with goshakusan for urticaria with anemia, keishikaryukotsuboreito for urticaria with stress, and bukuryoshigyakuto for cold urticaria with stress. We examined changes in palmoplantar sweating in response to the treatments to evaluate improvement in the circulation of Ki.The importance of Ki, Ketsu and Sui in chronic diseases was emphasized by Nangai Yoshimasu and Gonzan Goto as early as the Edo period. Urticaria is regarded as being due to disturbances of Ketsu and Sui that are often caused by systemic Ki disorders. Therefore, we consider that it is important to improve Ki stagnation in “spleen”, “lung” and “kidney” in the treatment of urticaria.

Atopic Dermatitis as a Psychosomatic Disorder / 日本東洋医学雑誌

As mental stress has a great impact on the symptoms of atopic dermatitis, we administered Qi-related prescriptions to 6 patients with atopic dermatitis. Not only were mental and autonomic imbalances, but also skin conditions were improved in all six. We examined changes in palmoplantar sweating and a self-rating depression scale to evaluate the effectiveness of the Qi-related prescriptions. The Qi-related prescriptions were used in combination with standard treatments as follows : keishikaryukotsuboreito in Case 1, shigyakusan in Cases 2 and 3, yokukansankachimpihange and keishikaryukotsuboreito in Case 4, shigyakusan and keishikaryukotsuboreito in Case 5, and saikokeisikankyoto in Case 6. It appears to be important to treat Qi-disorders, along with skin disorders, in patients with atopic dermatitis.

Economical Sweating Function in Africans: Quantitative Sudomotor Axon Reflex Test

People in tropics have the ability to tolerate heat by residential permanence in the tropics. Previously, we have shown that African and Thai subjects who lived for whole their lives in only their respective countries sweat less under hot conditions than South Koreans who also lived whole their lives in Korea. The difference in sweating responses was attributed to the dissimilar central and peripheral sweating mechanisms operating in people from both groups. In the present study, acetylcholine (ACh), the primary transmitter for the sudomotor functions, was iontophoretically administered to South Koreans and Africans to determine the characteristic sudorific responses of their acclimatized biologic make-up to their respective environments. Using quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test (QSART), direct (DIR) and axon reflex (AXR) responses were evaluated. The findings revealed that the sweat onset-time among South Koreans was 0.91 min earlier than among Africans (P< 0.01). The axon reflex sweat volume of nicotine receptor activity AXR (1) and sweat volume of muscarinic receptor activity DIR (2) among South Koreans were 79% and 53% greater (P< 0.01), respectively. These results indicate that the reduced thermal sweating among Africans is at least in part attributed to the diminished sensitivity of sweat glands to ACh.

Age-Related Differences in Sweat Loss and Fluid Intake During Sports Activity in Summer / 体力科学

In this study, we investigated total sweat rate per unit area of body surface per hour (TSR), the percentage of total sweat loss to initial body weight (%TSL) and the percentage of fluid intake volume to total sweat loss (%FIV) in children (during baseball or basketball practice), young adults (during softball or baseball practice), and the elderly (during gateball practice) in summer. During the practice all participants were given access to drink sports drink or Japanese tea <I>ad libitum</I>. In the basketball group of children no sex difference was observed in TSR, %TSL and %FIV. Although TSR and %TSL in the baseball group of children were significantly higher than in the basketball group due to a higher WBGT, there was no group difference for %FIV. Children drank sports drinks (with carbohydrate-electrolyte) of the similar volume with total sweat loss. The baseball group of children showed a significantly greater %FIV compared to the young adult group regardless of simi lar %TSL, when they drank sports drinks. Children showed a significantly higher %FIV in sports drinks than in Japanese tea, whereas the %FIV of young adults was not affected by the type of beverage. The TSR, %TSL and %FIV of the elderly group were significantly lower than in young adults and children. These results suggest that children can prevent voluntary dehydration by con-suming sports drinks with carbohydrate-electrolyte <I>ad libitum</I> regardless of sex and WBGT, and that periodic drinking should be actively encouraged for the elderly because of their blunted rehydration ability, to prevent heat disorders during sports activity in summer.