To clarify the impact of adherence, we treated 122 genotype 1 high viral titer chronic hepatitis C patients with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) and ribavirin for 48 weeks at nine referral hospitals, and evaluated the prognostic factors with a focus on the adherence to the treatment. This study included 68 (55.7%) treatment-naïve patients and 54 (44.3%) patients who did not respond to the previous treatment. Multivariate analysis revealed adherence to peg-IFN and ribavirin as the only significant predictor. Sustained virological response (SVR) rate was 72.2%, 19.0%, and 27.3% in patients given ≥80%, 60%–80%, and <60% dose peg-IFN, respectively, and was 68.6%, 41.2%, and 5.3% in those given ≥80%, 60%–80%, and <60% dose ribavirin, respectively. SVR rate sharply fell when exposure to peg-IFN was below 80% whereas it decreased in a stepwise manner as for ribavirin. Therefore, ≥80% of peg-IFN and as much as possible dose of ribavirin are desired to achieve SVR in the treatment of genotype 1 high viral titer chronic hepatitis C.

The anaerobic threshold, which is the limit of the aerobic glycolytic system (i.e., the so-called aerobic exercise limit) was not influenced by exercise under an acute alcoholic load. However, after the production of lactate started, the respiratory compensation point, which is the limit of the metabolic compensatory action, appeared earlier. This suggested that the intake of alcohol would influence the energy metabolism of skeletal muscles by a mechanism in which the disturbed metabolism of lactate in skeletal muscles was mainly involved.

There are two words for "aging" in Japanese: karei and rōka. While karei simply means "increasing age", a Japanese dictionary defines rōka as "(1) Senescence; a decline in bodily functions due to increasing age. (2) Deterioration of the functions and properties of living organisms and substances with the passage of time". As such, rōka is closer in nuance to the English word "aging". All things existing in this world share the fate of suffering "negative change" accompanying the passage of time. This not only affects animate objects; the same is true of inanimate objects. In the case of animate objects, this negative change which is a universal, intrinsic, progressive and deleterious process is called "aging" 1) ; when dealing with inanimate objects, it is covered by a number of terms including oxidation, degradation, degeneration and decay.The mechanism of aging is notionally divided into physical aging and biological aging. Physical aging is governed by the passage of time and advances at a relatively regular speed under certain environmental conditions. Biological aging is associated with life activity and, as such, is unique to animate objects; a typical example would be the free radicals that arise as a result of breathing. Biological aging has a modifying effect on physical aging, sometimes accelerating it, sometimes slowing it down 2) . The authors speculate that the direct causes of the negative change of declining physical and philological functions can be more easily understood in terms of the human lifespan and changes in the somatic cell count, such as atrophic change caused by apoptosis. In the course of a person's life, the peak of bodily REVIEW ARTICLES ABSTRACTThe concept of "anti-aging medicine" as a means of intervening in and controlling the aging process is a relatively new medical field. One of the major aims of anti-aging medicine is to reduce susceptibility to diseases and death caused by aging. In that sense, anti-aging medicine is a further development of "preventive medicine", which relies on various forms of medical support to reduce or remove negative changes, both physical and mental, due to increasing age.The purpose of anti-aging health check-ups is to extend healthy life expectancy as well as longevity. Thus, a check-up can only be called an "anti-aging" check-up if the person undergoing it also receives proper health guidance based on the results of the examination. Tokai University Tokyo Hospital started offering anti-aging health check-ups in June 2006, since when more than 1,100 people have received one. We have confirmed clear improvements in age-related changes following guidance for a number of items.The ultimate target of preventive medicine is to promote health and longevity through medical intervention, such as various tests and health guidance before the occurrence of problems, or in asymptomatic periods. It is classified into primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention, depending on the timing and stage of intervention. Currently, for example, the...

Objective Ferritin is involved in the occurrence of oxidative stress and regulation of adiponectin, both of which can modulate metabolic syndrome (MetS). To investigate the association of ferritin with MetS in Japanese, a cross-sectional study was conducted involving 324 men and 340 women who underwent anti-aging health checks at Tokai University Tokyo Hospital. Results Ferritin levels were significantly higher in the subjects with hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia in both men and women, and in those with abdominal obesity in women. HsCRP levels were significantly higher in the subjects with abdominal obesity in both sexes, and in those with hypertension in men. Serum ferritin increased in proportion to the number of MetS components and was significantly higher in MetS subjects than in non-MetS counterparts in both men and women, although these results were not obtained regarding hsCRP. Methods Conclusion

Purpose Since most of chronic liver diseases progress with no symptoms, health checkup plays an important role as triggers for further examinations and treatments. Here, we studied the proportion of liver dysfunction among patients receiving health checkup , and investigated the causes. Method The study targeted 42,003 subjects who underwent health checkup at the PL Tokyo Health Care Center between April 2007 and March 2008. We selected subjects showing liver dysfunctions with readings of GPT40-79 IU/ml and 80IU/l or more, divided by gender and age specifi c group in every 10-year intervals. We then took those with positive serum HBs antigen and HCV antibody as HBV (ϩ) and HCV (ϩ), those who drank more than 40 g of ethanol per day at least six days a week as alcohol consumption (ϩ), and those who satisfied diagnostic criteria for fatty liver under the abdominal ultrasound examination as fatty liver (ϩ), and analyzed the proportions of each. Results GPT40-79 IU/l liver dysfunction were found in 13.1% of males and 2.5% of females, and GPT80 IU/l or more in 2.3% of males and 0.4% of females, both showing higher levels in males. In the analysis by age, males with liver dysfunction ended to be most numerous in their 30s with 22.5% but gradually decreased with age, while females tended to gradually increase with age, peaking at 7.8% in their 70s. The most common cause of liver dysfunction was fatty liver in both men and women, this accounting for liver dysfunction in 13.0% of male cases and 17.6% of females. The next most common for males was alcohol consumption with 10.4%, while for women it was HCV (ϩ) with 6.0%. NAFLD was 1.7% in males and 2.3% in females. Cases thought to be non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) combined with liver dysfunction were found in 0.4% of males and 0.5% females. Conclusions Liver dysfunction were found in about 15% of males and 3% of females undergoing health checkups, the most common cause being fatty liver. NAFLD, a subject of some attention in recent years, was seen in about 2% of the whole group. A quarter of those were thought to be NASH accompanied by liver dysfunction.