Spin fluctuations in weakly itinerant ferromagnets Y(Co1−xAlx)2

The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate, 1/T₁, has been measured in weak itinerant ferromagnets Y(Co_1−xAl_x)₂. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of 1/T₁T has been found to be well described by the self-consistent renormalization (SCR) theory of spin fluctuations. The parameters characterizing spin fluctuations in this system were estimated from NMR and magnetic measurements. The temperature dependence of susceptibility calculated from these parameters well reproduces the experimental results.     

Stability of Mn moments and spin fluctuations in RMn2 (R: Rare earth)

On the basis of the results of thermal expansion and NMR measurements, the stability of Mn moments and spin fluctuations in RMn₂ are discussed. It has been shown that the interatomic distance of RMn₂ plays a crucial role in determining the Mn magnetism in RMn₂.     

Complexity of Body Movements during Sleep in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Recently, measuring the complexity of body movements during sleep has been proven as an objective biomarker of various psychiatric disorders. Although sleep problems are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and might exacerbate ASD symptoms, their objectivity as a biomarker remains to be established. Therefore, details of body movement complexity during sleep as estimated by actigraphy were investigated in typically developing (TD) children and in children with ASD. Several complexity analyses were applied to raw and thresholded data of actigraphy from 17 TD children and 17 children with ASD. Determinism, irregularity and unpredictability, and long-range temporal correlation were examined respectively using the false nearest neighbor (FNN) algorithm, information-theoretic analyses, and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Although the FNN algorithm did not reveal determinism in body movements, surrogate analyses identified the influence of nonlinear processes on the irregularity and long-range temporal correlation of body movements. Additionally, the irregularity and unpredictability of body movements measured by expanded sample entropy were significantly lower in ASD than in TD children up to two hours after sleep onset and at approximately six hours after sleep onset. This difference was found especially for the high-irregularity period. Through this study, we characterized details of the complexity of body movements during sleep and demonstrated the group difference of body movement complexity across TD children and children with ASD. Complexity analyses of body movements during sleep have provided valuable insights into sleep profiles. Body movement complexity might be useful as a biomarker for ASD.     

Construction of a dimethyl sulfoxide sensor based on dimethyl sulfoxide reductase immobilized on a au film electrode.

A novel dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) sensor using DMSO reductase and film electrodes was constructed. The Au and Ag electrodes were fabricated on slide glass by vacuum deposition and the application of a photolithographic technique. The micro-chamber (4 x 50 x 1 mm, volume 200 microl) was fabricated on a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) polymer. The Pt electrode was implanted in a PDMS polymer. DMSO reductase was immobilized on a Au film electrode with bovine serum albumin (BSA)-glutaraldehyde. This sensor could determine DMSO in an unpurged aqueous solution with glucose oxidase (GOD) and catalase (CAT) for oxygen removal. The DMSO sensor showed a linear response within 1 mM DMSO with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The detection limit was 200 microM (3sigma), and the sensitivity was 23.8 mA M(-1) cm(-2). The relative standard deviations at each concentration were within 3.6%.     

MuSR study of weakly magnetic Y(Co1−x Al x )2

All previous experiments have suggested that Y(Co_1−x Al _x )₂ is a weak itinerant ferromagnet for 0.12<x<0.20. The muon transverse damping rate (λ) increases rapidly near the Curie point forx≥0.155 and for one sample withx=0.145. The value of λ increases with decreasing temperature for other samples withx<0.155 but shows no feature at the Curie point.     

Conjugated 1 beta-hydroxycholic acid in the urine of newborns and pregnant women measured by radioimmunoassay using antisera raised against N-(1 beta-hydroxycholyl)-2-aminopropionic acid-bovine serum albumin conjugate.

Anti-tauro 1 beta-hydroxycholic acid antisera were prepared by immunizing rabbits with N-(1 beta,3 alpha, 7 alpha, 12 alpha-tetrahydroxy-5 beta-cholan-24-oyl)-2- aminopropionic acid-bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate. The antisera raised had high affinity (1.25-1.46 x 10(9) M-1) and specificity for conjugated 1 beta-hydroxycholic acid; cross-reactivity for glyco 1 beta-hydroxycholic acid was 100% and that for the glycine and taurine conjugates of other 1 beta-hydroxylated bile acids ranged from 11.30 to 0.23%. Urinary concentrations of conjugated 1 beta-hydroxycholic acid were determined by radioimmunoassay in newborns, 0-20 d after birth, in amounts ranging from 0.29 to 18.51 micrograms/ml and in women in late pregnancy (less than 1.13 micrograms/ml), as well as in normal women (less than 0.12 microgram/ml).