CHARACTERISTICS OF PULLING MOVEMENT FOR JAPANESE ELITE TUG OF WAR ATHLETES

The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of pulling movement for Japanese elite tug of war athletes in the world. In order to examine the pUlling movement, 6 joint angles (viz.: shoulder, trunk, knee, body, upper body, and lower body) of each sUbject were obtained by the DLT motion analysis system during 2004 All Japan Tug of War Championship tournament. It was found that the elite puller of world champion team inclined his upper body more heavily to backwards, and his lower body a little bit more slightly to forwards, extending both the hip and the knee, than that of average team. Therefore, it was concluded that the elite puller of world champion team could be able to push and pull his whole body power totally and quite efficiently

A CASE STUDY OF COMPUTER AIDED INSTRUCTION IN A TEAM HANDBALL CLASS IN JAPAN

INTRODUCTION: There is general agreement on how physical education (PE) programs can be improved: classes need to be taught by more qualified instructors or teachers, and students need to spend more class time being physical active. PE programs should more positively promote a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to make use of an information society. We assume that to take the advantage of visual materials through CAI will be helpful to inexperienced teachers in teaching PE programs on the regular curriculum. So the purpose of this study was to inquire the availability of practical effectiveness for teaching team handball in PE class at junior high school through CAI

ANALYSIS OF TIMING SKILL OF DROP EXERCISE IN ELITE INDOOR TUG OF WAR ATHLETES

In order to describe the timing skill of the elite athletes of indoor Tug of War, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between peak force time (PT) differences and the peak force (PF) exerted by two pullers. The team holding the gold medal record for the World Indoor TOW Championships 2004 participated in this study (N=22). Also eight novice male students participated. Our data revealed that the sum of individual PF in two pullers was 305.9±41.4kgw and PF exerted by the two pullers was 286.3±38.8kgw, which was 93.6% of the sum PF in skilled pullers. There was approximately 6% loss of PF in skilled pair. A correlation coefficient of .926 and a regression equation in the form of Y=64.193X+2.454 (

ヘムオキシゲナーゼ1によるクルクミン誘導末梢血単球炎症性サイトカイン産生の制御

クルクミン(diferuloyl methane)は香辛料ターメリックの活性成分であり、試験管内あるいは生体内において強い抗酸化あるいは抗炎症作用などを示すとされているが、このような生物活性の機序としてheme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)の誘導を介することが知られている。本研究では、末梢血単球の炎症性サイトカイン産生におけるクルクミンの関与を明らかにすることを目的として行った。その結果、クルクミンは lipopolysaccharide により末梢血単核球に誘導されたTNF-alpha や IL-6の産生を抑制した一方で、IL-10やHO-1活性を有意に増強した。また、本研究で用いたクルクミンの濃度範囲において、アポトーシスや細胞死はほとんど認めなかったことから、クルクミンによる炎症性サイトカインの抑制効果はクルクミンの細胞毒性に起因したものではないといえた。さらに、HO活性抑制物質SnPP添加により単核球の培養後期においてクルクミンの抑制効果は部分的に解除された、このことから、クルクミンはHO-1産生を介した炎症性サイトカインの抑制を部分的に誘導することが示唆された一方で、他機序を介した単球への関与についても示唆された。クルクミンのような非細胞毒性を示す薬剤を利用することによる単球機能の調節は、さまざまな炎 症性疾患の新しい抗炎症治療への可能性が期待される。Curcumin (diferuloyl methane) is the active component of the spice turmeric and it exerts potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions both in vitro and in vivo. The mechanism through which curcumin exhibits its biological functions is through induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the direct effect of curcumin on inflammatory cytokine production by irculating monocytes. Curcumin inhibited lipopolysaccharide induced production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells, whereas it induced significant levels of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and HO-1. The inhibitory effect of curcumin was not via cytotoxicity of the reagent because there was no significant apoptosis or cell death induced over the range of concentrations used for the assay. The inhibitory effect of curcumin was partially abrogated by adding HO inhibitor SnPP at the late phase of the culture, indicating that the curcumin induced suppression of inflammatory cytokine is partly through production of HO-1. In addition, curcumin may act on monocytes through multiple mechanisms to regulate its inflammatory cytokine production. Modulation of monocyte functions by non-cytotoxic reagent such as curcumin may offer a novel anti-inflammatory therapeutics for the treatment of various inflammatory disorders

Persistence of Acquired Epileptogenesis in Amygdaloid-Kindled Rats: Relationship between the Initial Kindling Stages and Seizure Development in Rekindling

In order to gain insight into mechanisms underlying the persistence of the partial kindling effect, we suspended amygdaloid kindling at different seizure stages in rats, and investigated the effects on subsequent rekindling after a rest period of 2 months. Ten-week-old rats, implanted with bipolar electrodes, were separated by various initial kindling stages into 5 groups of rats, partially kindled to stages 1 (n = 7) and 2 (n = 10), fully kindled to stages 4 (n = 11) and 5 (n = 11), and control rats (n = 12) which were implanted but not stimulated initially. The number of stimulations required to elicit the first stage 5 seizure during rekindling was significantly lower in the fully kindled groups (P < 0.01 in the stage 4 group and P < 0.001 in the stage 5 group) than the control group. The cumulative afterdischarge duration during rekindling was significantly shorter in the fully kindled groups (P < 0.01 in both groups) than the control group. The latency of the first stage 5 seizure during rekindling was significantly shorter in the partially and fully kindled groups than the control group. These results suggest that epileptogenesis acquired at the partially kindled stage is different than that acquired at the fully kindled stage. However, the effects of the initial kindling on the latency to produce the stage 5 seizure during rekindling persisted both in the partially and fully kindled rats

Is the Importance of Achieving Stable Disease Different between Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and Cytotoxic Agents in the Second-Line Setting for Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer?

BackgroundIt is controversial whether achieving stable disease leads to a survival benefit and whether the importance of achieving stable disease differs between cytotoxic agents and molecular targeted agents. To examine these questions, the authors retrospectively reviewed phase II and III studies in the second-line setting for advanced non-small cell lung cancer using epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and cytotoxic agents separately.MethodsThe authors chose 45 trials for the chemotherapy group and nine for the EGFR TKI group by searching the PubMed database. All nine trials in the EGFR TKI group concern gefitinib and erlotinib.ResultsThe median survival time increased 0.0375 month with each 1% increase in stable disease rate (p = 0.039), and each 1% increase in response rate resulted in 0.0744 (p < 0.001) month of median survival time in the analysis combined with both cytotoxic agents and EGFR TKIs. Main and interaction terms for EGFR TKI treatment were not statistically significant. With respect to time to progression, only response rate showed a statistically significant relationship with survival.ConclusionsTo obtain response seems to be more important than to achieve stable disease for both cytotoxic agents and EGFR TKIs, although achieving stable disease is still valuable. The relationship between survival and response or stable disease appears similar for cytotoxic agents and EGFR TKIs

Magnified single-balloon enteroscopy in the diagnosis of intestinal follicular lymphoma: a case series

The objective of this study was to evaluate the magnified endoscopic findings in the diagnosis of follicular lymphoma in the small intestine in comparison with those of intestinal follicular lymphoma and lymphangiectasia. Four patients with follicular lymphoma and 3 with lymphangiectasia in the small intestine were retrospectively analyzed. A prototype magnifying singleballoon enteroscope was used. The findings of the intestinal follicular lymphoma and lymphangiectasia were retrospectively analyzed to determine the magnified endoscopic findings of follicular lymphoma in the small intestine. Opaque white granules were observed in 3 of the 4 patients with follicular lymphoma. Magnified narrow-band imaging (NBI) of the opaque white granules showed stretched microvessels, which had a diminutive tree-like appearance. The remaining patient had no opaque white granules and only displayed whitish villi. Magnified NBI observation of the whitish villi revealed the absence of marginal villus epithelium, which was confirmed by histology. The magnified NBI enteroscopy revealed the diminutive tree-like appearance on the opaque white granules and the absence of marginal villus epithelium of the whitish villi in intestinal follicular lymphoma. These findings may be useful in diagnosing follicular lymphoma