Sanno University

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare 10-year longitudinal changes in physical fitness (from age 70 to age 80 years) between older Japanese adults who did and did not take medications over the ten years period. METHODS: Six hundred men (n=306) and women (n=294), 70 years of age at baseline, residing in Niigata City, Japan, participated in this study. Baseline and follow-up physical fitness tests included hand-grip strength, isometric knee extensor strength, leg extensor power, stepping rate, and one-leg standing time with eyes open, and had medical examinations by physicians. Only the individuals who completed the physical fitness test at age of 80 years were grouped into no-medication or medication groups over the past decade, and divided into three groups: Group A: no medication over the 10 years period, Group B: medication at 80yr, no medication at 70yr, Group C: medication over the 10 years period. Their physical fitness at ages 70 and 80 years were compared using Paired t-test and Chi Square test. RESULTS: 59% of baseline data (n=354) were compared with 10 years follow-up data. Among these subjects, the rate of no medication use at 70 years old was 35.8%, which declined to 15.3% by 80 years of age. The most common chronic disease requiring medication was high blood pressure of these 80 year old men and women (n=122). The numbers of participants in each group were: A-56, B-104, and C-194. When compared the means of test results among these 3 groups at age 70 and 80 years, there were significant differences (p<0.05) in hand-grip strength (A: 33.0kg, B: 30.2kg, C: 28.8kg) and knee extensor strength (A: 1.19kg/kg, B: 1.05kg/kg, C: 0.97 kg/kg). There were also significant decline over the ten years period in grip strength (A: -5.818kg B:-4.045kg C:-4.788kg), total protein (A: -0.135 g/dl, B: -0.112 g/dl, C: -0.223g/dl), and total cholesterol (A: -0.056mg/dl, B:-9.257mg/dl, C: -12.09mg/dl). Limitation of this study was significant decline of completion rate of the tests (leg extensor power, knew extensor strength) in participants in Groups B and C. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that the older adults with no medications over the ten years period had higher physical fitness level than medication groups. The findings of this study may provide interesting insight regarding the physical fitness in the elderly population.

RESUMODebates sobre a preservação do meio ambiente e criações de animais produzidos com bem-estar animal vem ganhando muito destaque nos últimos anos. A ovinocultura para atender as exigências do mercado atual tem feito investimentos nos sistemas de produção no manejo racional dos ovinos, sem esquecer os princípios básicos de sanidade e nutrição animais. Essa revisão tem como objetivo reunir informações de pesquisas científicas e trabalhos técnicos que tem comentado sobre os benefícios do bem-estar animal na produtividade e na sanidade de ovinos. PALAVRAS CHAVES: Ovinocultura. Produção animal. Saúde animal. ABSTRACTDebates on the preservation of the environment and animal creations produced with animal welfare is gaining much prominence in recent years. The sheep industry to meet the demands of the current market has made investments in production systems in the rational management of sheep, without forgetting the basic principles of health and nutrition animals. This review aims to gather scientific research information and technical work that has commented on the benefits of animal welfare in productivity and health of sheep. KEYWORDS: Animal health. Animal production. Sheep industry. RESUMENLos debates sobre la conservación de las creaciones de medio ambiente y de los animales producidos con el bienestar animal está ganando mucho protagonismo en los últimos años. La industria de las ovejas para satisfacer las exigencias del mercado actual ha hecho inversiones en los sistemas de producción en la gestión racional de ovejas, sin olvidar los principios básicos de los animales de salud y nutrición. Esta revisión tiene como objetivo recoger información investigación científica y el trabajo técnico que se ha comentado sobre los beneficios de bienestar animal en la productividad y la salud de las ovejas. PALABRAS CLAVE: Ganado. Oveja. Salud de los animales.

The coupling characteristics of the optical fiber with a circular hollow pit is important in order to design a fiber device. The optical fiber with a circular hollow pit can separate x-polarization and y-polarization. The polarization splitter constructed from the optical fiber with a circular hollow pit can take out x-polarization and y-polarization separately due to the difference of coupling strengths of polarization. We propose a new polarization splitter. One-half of new polarization splitter is used for a depressed clad fiber and the half of new polarization splitter is used for the fiber with a circular hollow pit outside a core. When the width t/a1 of the depressed clad fiber is varied in the range 0.5≦t/a1≦3.0, the device length L and the bandwidth BW-15 at R≦-15dB (R: the extinction ratio) are investigated. It is found at t/a1=3.0 and Δ5=-0.322% that: (1) L takes its minimum value 3.24mm ; (2) BW-15 takes its maximum value 74.9nm.

Interpersonal touch has been little studied empirically as an indicator of parent- and peer-child intimacy. Undergraduate students (n = 390) were studied using a questionnaire survey regarding the frequencies of interpersonal touch by father, mother, same-sex peers, and opposite-sex peers during preschool ages, grades 1–3, grades 4–6, and grades 7–9, as well as their current attachment style to a romantic partner and current depression. A path model indicated that current depression was influenced significantly by poorer self- and other-images as well as by fewer parental interpersonal touches throughout childhood. Other-image was influenced by early (up to grade 3) parental interpersonal touch. Our findings suggest that a lower frequency of parental touching during childhood influences the development of depression and contributes to a poorer image of an individual’s romantic partner during later adolescence and early adulthood.

In this paper, we propose a new polarization splitter constructed from a circular core fiber (fiber1) and an elliptical core fiber (fiber2). The polarization splitters are designed so that the x-polarization and the y-polarization are derived from the fiber2 and the fiber1, respectively. The device length Lm and the bandwidth BW-15 at R≤-15dB (R: the extinction ratio) are discussed by adjusting mainly the ellipticity e2 of the core in the fiber2 and the relative index difference Δ2 of the fiber2. When e2 and Δ2 are varied in the range 0.60≤e2≤0.85 and 0.5%≤Δ2≤1.0%, respectively, it is found that: (1) Lm takes its minimum value 18.96mm at Δ2=1.0% and e2=0.79; (2) BW-15 takes its maximum value 4.98nm at Δ2=1.0% and e2=0.85.

The purpose of this study is to control the myoelectric prosthetic hand that can grasp various objects stably. The electromyogram (EMG) signals of the flexor and extensor muscle of the forearm were recorded by subjects who performed two movements of the digital flexion and extension in a maximum voluntary contraction. The integrated EMG (iEMG) and mean power frequency (MNF) were calculated from the recorded results. The difference values of iEMG and MNF between the start and the end of the movements were calculated. In the movement of the digital flexion, the difference value of iEMG in the flexor was smaller than that in the extensor, and the difference value of MNF in the extensor was smaller than that in the flexor. In the movement of the digital extension, the difference value of iEMG in the extensor was smaller than that in the flexor, and the difference value of MNF was low in both muscles.