By using the STAI developed by Spielberger et al. we have investigated the validity and reliability of two scales, that is, State Anxiety (A-State) and Trait Anxiety (A-Trait), and at the same time have examined them under various conditions. The results obtained are as follows :1) As a result of factor analysis concerning 40 items of the STAI used in this research, we have confirmed that both A-State and A-Trait have independent factor structures of their own, and that the items of the scales also carry their own validity.2) After due consideration of the test-retest reliability of the two scales, we have found that A-Trait has rather high stability.Moreover, we have noticed that Cronbach's alpha coefficients, which show the reliability of the two scales, are high. In consequence, we have confirmed the high reliability of the two scales.3) In comparing the scores of A-State and A-Trait obtained from young healthy people with those from healthy aged people, we have noticed that the aged get low scores on each of the two scales, and that each score distribution shows an excellent fit to the normal one. 4) We have found that A-State scores go up significantly when people are in a condition of emotional stress, but that there is not any change of A-Trait scores. 5) We have observed a significant increase of A-State scores at each noise level over 75 dB (A). From the above-mentioned results, we have reached the conclusion that the STAI is very valid and reliable, and that the A-State scale, especially, is a very good indicator of men's psychological states under conditions of temporary stress.

We report on a 7-month-old boy with interstitial deletion of 6q21-q23 and split-hand defect. He died at 7 months. This is the fifth patient with distal limb anomaly associated with a rearrangement of 6q21 region, and supports previous suggestions that there may be candidate gene(s) for distal limb development in the 6q21 region.

We investigated the parasympathetic nervous response to psychological test using heart rate variation (HRV) during deep breathing in elderly patients with hand-arm vibration syndrome and healthy controls. Average age (SD) of 16 patients with vibration-induced white finger (VWF), 13 patients without VWF and 12 healthy controls was 60.1 (2.8), 60.6 (4.2) and 58.8 (3.8), respectively. After an initial supine rest for 40 min, psychological test (Stroop color word test and mirror drawing test) was performed for 20 min. The indexes of HRV (Mean R-R, SD, RMSSD and CV) were calculated. Blood pressure and heart rate were also measured. The indexes of HRV did not differ between the groups before exposure. The SD, RMSSD and CV of the patients without VWF during supine deep breathing after 3 min post-exposure supine rest were significantly lower than those of the control group (p<0.05). The Mean R-R of the patients without VWF significantly increased (p<0.05). Blood pressure did not differ in either before or after exposure measurements. The results suggest that the post-exposure response of the parasympathetic nervous system to psychological test reduced in the patients without VWF. Key words:Hand-arm vibration syndrome, Psychological test, Parasympathetic responseVibration-induced white finger, Heart rate variation, It has been suggested that exposure to hand-arm vibration might affect autonomic nervous functions and has been demonstrated on the basis of subjective symptoms complained with higher prevalence rates by patients with hand-arm vibration syndrome than healthy controls" 2).In clinical neurology the responses of cardiovascular reflexes have been used to examine the function of the autonomic nervous system3° 4). It has been accepted that respiratory sinus arrhythmia in supine deep breathing is vagally mediated, and variation of heart rate parameters due to respiratory arrhythmia is considered as an indicator of the parasympathetic nervous functions' 6)In this study, we examined a group of elderly patients with hand-arm vibration syndrome and healthy controls to *To whom correspondence should be addressed .evaluate the parasympathetic nervous activity using heart rate variation. Because the heart rate variation decreases with increasing age's, we manipulated levels of cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic activity of the subjects exposing them to psychological test and measured R-R intervals in supine deep breathing before exposure and after 3 min post-exposure supine rest. Blood pressure and heart rate were also measured. We studied 41 male subjects. Sixteen of them with agerange 55 to 66 (60.1 ± 2.8) years, were workers exposed to vibration and experienced attacks of vibration-induced white finger during the past year (VWF(+) group), 13 with agerange 54 to 65 (60.6 ± 4.2) years, were workers exposed to vibration but did not experience attacks of vibration-induced white finger (VWF(-) group) and 12 healthy workers with age-range 51 to 61(58.8 ± 4.0) years, were examined as a

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The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of the face-down position on ventilatory function after macular hole surgery. The transcutaneous carbon dioxide tensions (tcPCO2) were measured in five patients who had undergone intraocular tamponade and in 17 normal subjects. The tcPCO2 measurements were done in patients following vitrectomy in the sitting position and in the prone position with their faces down over the semi-closed spaces of the conventional mats. In normal subjects, minute ventilatory volumes (V.E) were measured simultaneously with tcPCO2 in the sitting position and prone position. The newly introduced face-down mats (new mats) for the prone position were also tested in the normal subjects. In normal subjects, VE in the prone position with the conventional mats was significantly lower than that found in the sitting position (5.06 +/- 1.55 vs 6.06 +/- 1.64 L/min; P < 0.002). The tcPCO2 in the prone position was significantly higher than that in the sitting position (41.7 +/- 2.1 vs 38.0 +/- 1.9 mmHg; P < 0.0001). In post-vitrectomy patients, tcPCO2 in the prone position with the conventional mats was significantly higher than that in the sitting position (41.4 +/- 1.7 vs 38.6 +/- 2.2 mmHg; P < 0.02). The tcPCO2 in the prone position in normal subjects was significantly lower using new mats than that when using conventional mats. The use of conventional mats during a prone position, increased the tcPCO2 values when compared to the tcPCO2 values obtained during the sitting position in patients following vitrectomy. This could be due to either a decrease of the VE caused by limited thoracic movement or rebreathing of the exhaled gas over the semi-closed space, or both. The new mats might be useful in alleviating the increase of tcPCO2 by eliminating the rebreathing of the exhaled gas.