The purpose of this study was to develop a simple assessment of lactate threshold (LT) in older people. Two-hundreds and nine subjects, aged 65 to 90 years old, performed a bench stepping test by means of a 20 cm bench at 10 to 35 ascends per minute of the stepping rate. In 52 of 209 subjects, we determined the metabolic equivalents corresponding to exercise intensity of which lactate (LA) increased 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 1 mmol/l from baseline level, LA corresponding to the baseline level and 2 mmol/l (METs@LAr+0.1, METs@LAr+0.2, METs@LAr+0.3, METs@LAr+0.4, METs@LAr+0.5, METs@LAr+1, METs@LAr and METs@LA2), in addition to LT. We calucurated exercise intensity equivalent to fi xed LA levels by both a standard aseessment using a liner regression between exercise intensity (logexercise inetsnity) and LA (log-LA) ranged above LT, and a simple assessment using a liner regression between log-exercise inetsnity and log-LA ranged bellow and above 2 mmol/l of LA. Using the standard assessment, no signifi cant difference was confi rmed between METs@LAr+0.1 (4.7±0.8 METs) and LT (4.6±0.7 METs). In regard to METs corresponding to other LA, using the standard assessment, METs@LAr (4.5±0.8 METs) was signifi cantly lower (p<0.05), and the rest (4.8±0.8 -5.6±0.8 METs) were signifi cantly higher (p<0.01), compared with LT. There was no signifi cant difference between METs@LAr+0.1 determined using standard assessment and simple assessment (4.6±0.9 METs). Also METs@LAr+0.1 determined by the simple assessment had high correlation and good limit agreement with LT (r=0.900, p<0.001 and 0.0±0.8 METs), as well as METs@LAr+0.1 determined by the standard assessment (r=0.930, p<0.001 and 0.0±0.6 METs). In 90% of men and 92%of women, LA reached 2 mmol/l at an intensity of 20, 25 or 30 ascends/minute. The method of evaluating exercise intensity corresponding to 0.1 mmol/l above resting level of LA using a stepping rate of 15, 20, 25 and 30 ascends/minute on a 20 cm platform, taking LA of 2 mmol/l as the termination criteria, can be considered valid as a simple assessment of LT in older individuals.

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Boron doping of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond films plays an important role for modification of their electrical properties, as well as it improves crystallinity of the resulting films. A comparative study of crystalline quality has been made for boron doped and undoped CVD diamond. It is also found that the edge emission near 240 nm in cathodoluminescence (CL) is significantly intensified by boron incorporation. It is observed that the hydrogen plasma etching rate of B-doped CVD diamond is much smaller than the etching rate of undoped diamond. This proves the fact, that boron incorporation during CVD growth of diamond films can lead to better crystal quality.

Complexes of permethylated -cyclodextrin (-MCD) with the two enantiomers of protonated tyrosine (L- and D-TyrH+) are studied by cryogenic ion trap infrared photo-dissociation spectroscopy. The vibrational spectra in the OH/NH...

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ABSTRACT. The nucleotide sequences of the 16S rDNA in 17 strains of 16 taxa of the genus Staphylococcus were determined. The sequences were compared phylogenetically together with the gene sequences of 10 (including 7 other species) Staphylococcus species retrieved from the DNA Data Bank of Japan. Although the primary and secondary structures of most of Staphylococcus species were very similar (homology values 96.4% or more) except for S. caseolyticus MAFF 911387 T (homology values 95.4% or less), the 23 staphylococcal species were divided into 10 groups based on similarity, evolutionary distance and phylogenetic tree analysis. Nucleotide stretches in several variable domains in the 16S rDNA sequence appeared to be specific for the bacterial groups or the species. By comparing such characteristics in the sequence and phylogenies of 5 staphylococcal clinical isolates from bovine mastitis, canine and feline pyoderma, and feline urogenital syndrome with the information obtained in this study, the species level of each organism was identified. -KEY WORDS: rDNA, 16S ribosomal RNA, Staphylococcus.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 59(9): 775-783, 1997 have indicated the existence of species-specific nucleotide stretches within the gene [3,28,39], however, the number of the species determined their sequence were limited. The aim of this study was to detect subtle differences between staphylococcal species by comparing their sequence patterns of the 16S rDNA and to understand the phylogenetic relationships. We also examined the usefulness of comparative gene analysis for precise identification of staphylococcal isolates in the veterinary field. MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data suggest that individuals with chronic disease conditions can more effectively increase levels of physical activity, expressed as both MVPA/day and steps/day, by self-monitoring MIN rather than STE. The effect of self-monitoring physical activity levels for longer periods and/or the effect of increasing minutes of MVPA/day versus steps/day on specific health outcomes have not yet been examined.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the "chronotoxicity" of seven metal compounds (Hg, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu, Zn, or Fe) by assessing how their toxicity varies with circadian periodicity. Male ICR mice were injected with each metal compound intraperitoneally at 6 different time points over the course of a day (zeitgeber time [ZT]: ZT2, ZT6, ZT10, ZT14, ZT18 and ZT22). Mortality was then monitored until 14 days after the injection. Our investigation demonstrated that mice were tolerant against Ni toxicity during dark phase, on the other hand, they were tolerant against Cr toxicity during light phase. The chronotoxicity of Hg and Pb seemed to be biphasic. Further, mice were susceptible to toxicities against Cu and Zn in the time zone during which light and dark were reversed. Interestingly, no significant differences were observed for Fe exposure at any time of the day. Our results propose that the chronotoxicology may provide valuable information regarding the importance of injection timing for not only toxicity evaluation tests but also the reproducibility of animal experiments. Furthermore, our data suggests that chronotoxicology may be an important consideration when evaluating the quality of risk assessments for night shift workers who may be exposed to toxic substances at various times of the day.