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.     

Development of a wide range-operable,rich-lean low-NOx combustor for NH3 fuel gas-turbine power generation

Low-NOx NH₃-air combustion power generation technology was developed by using a 50-kWe class micro gas-turbine system at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan, for the first time. Based on the global demand for carbon-free power generation as well as recent advances involving gas-turbine technologies, such as heat-regenerative cycles, rapid fuel mixing using strong swirling flows, and two-stage combustion with equivalence ratio control, we developed a low-NOx NH₃-air non-premixed combustor for the gas-turbine system. Considering a previously performed numerical analysis, which proved that the NO reduction level depends on the equivalence ratio of the primary combustion zone in a NH₃-air swirl burner, an experimental study using a combustor test rig was carried out. Results showed that eliminating air flow through primary dilution holes moves the point of the lowest NO emissions to the lesser fuel flow rate. Based on findings derived by using a test rig, a rich-lean low NOx combustor was newly manufactured for actual gas-turbine operations. As a result, the NH₃ single fueled low-NOx combustion gas-turbine power generation using the rich-lean combustion concept succeeded over a wide range of power and rotational speeds, i.e., below 10–40 kWe and 75,000–80,000?rpm, respectively. The NO emissions were reduced to 337?ppm (16% O₂), which was about one-third of that of the base system. Simultaneously, unburnt NH₃ was reduced significantly, especially at the low electrical power output, which was indicative of the wider operating range with high combustion efficiency. In addition, N₂O emissions, which have a large Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 298, were reduced significantly, thus demonstrating the potential of NH₃ gas-turbine power generation with low environmental impacts.     

Am,Cm recovery from genuine HLLW by extraction chromatography

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The extraction chromatography experiments for Am(III) and Cm(III) recovery from genuine HLLW were carried out in order to demonstrate modified 2...     

Oxide ion conductivity of double doped lanthanum gallate perovskite type oxide

Doping transition metal cation is known to enhance the electronic conduction of solid electrolytes, however, the ionic conduction can also be improved by those dopants. In this investigation, the oxide ion conductivity of LaGaO₃ based oxide doped with transition metal cations such as Fe, Co, Ni, Mn, and Cu for the Ga site was studied. It was found that doping Co or Fe is effective for enhancing the oxide ion conductivity. The improved oxide ion conductivity may be induced by the improved mobility of oxide ion. Among examined transition metal cations, cobalt is the most adequate cation as a dopant for the Ga site of LSGM. Considering the conductivity and the transport number, the optimized composition is found to be La_0.8Sr_0.2Ga_0.8Mg_0.115Co_0.085O₃. In this work, application of Co²⁺ doped LSGM as the electrolyte of internally reformed fuel cells was also investigated. Improvement in oxide ion conductivity is effective for enhancing the power generation characteristics. Paper presented at the 4th Euroconference on Solid State Ionics, Renvyle, Galway, Ireland, Sept. 13–19, 1997     

Inter- and intramolecular activation of aromatic C-H bonds by diphosphine and hydrido-bridged dinuclear iridium complexes

Reactions of [(Cp*Ir)2(mu-dmpm)(mu-H)2]2+ (1) with NaOtBu in aromatic solvent at room temperature give [(Cp*Ir)(H)(mu-dmpm)(mu-H)(Cp*Ir)(Ar)]+ [Ar = Ph (3), p-Tol (4a), m-Tol (4b), 2-furanyl (5a), 3-furanyl (5b)] via intermolecular aromatic C-H activation. Treatment of [(Cp*Ir)2(mu-dppm)(mu-H)2]2+ (2) with base (Et2NH) results in intramolecular C-H activation of the phenyl group in the dppm ligand to give [(Cp*Ir)(H){mu-PPh(C6H4)CH2PPh2}(mu-H)(Cp*Ir)]+ (6). The structures of 3, 5a, and 6 have been determined by X-ray diffraction methods.     

Designer ribozymes: programming the tRNA specificity into flexizyme

Fx3 is an artificial ribozyme with the ability to aminoacylate various tRNAs with phenylalanine and its nonnatural derivatives. Herein we report a simple strategy to build tRNA specificity into the generic Fx3, by appending to its 3'-end a tRNA-specific sequence (TSS), which is complementary to the acceptor stem of the cognate tRNA. This new designer ribozyme, referred to as Fx10, is able to recognize its cognate tRNA via a 10-base-pair interaction that is formed after the invasion of the tRNA acceptor stem by the TSS. We have demonstrated that Fx10 can aminoacylate its cognate tRNA with a high degree of specificity and also discriminate against the noncognate tRNAs. Because the tRNA specificity can be easily programmed into Fx10, it is a custom-made catalyst to generate nonnatural aminoacyl-tRNAs.     

Sodium or lithium ion-binding-induced structural changes in the K-ring of V-ATPase from Enterococcus hirae revealed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy

V-ATPase from Enterococcus hirae forms a large supramolecular protein complex (total molecular weight ～700,000) and physiologically transports Na(+) and Li(+) across a hydrophobic lipid bilayer. Stabilization of these cations in the binding site has been discussed on the basis of X-ray crystal structures of a membrane-embedded domain, the K-ring (Na(+)- and Li(+)-bound forms). Here, sodium or lithium ion-binding-induced difference IR spectra of the intact V-ATPase have for the first time been measured at physiological temperature under a sufficient amount of hydration. The results suggest that sodium or lithium ion binding induces the deprotonation of Glu139, a hydrogen-bonding change in the tyrosine residue, and a small conformational change in the K-ring. These structural changes, especially the deprotonation of Glu139, are considered to be important for reducing energetic barriers to the transport of cations through the membrane.     

Protein-protein interaction of a Pharaonis halorhodopsin mutant forming a complex with Pharaonis halobacterial transducer protein II detected by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Pharaonis halorhodopsin (pHR) functions as a light-driven inward chloride ion pump in Natoronomonas pharaonis, while pharaonis phoborhodopsin (ppR; also called pharaonis sensory rhodopsin II, pSRII), is a light sensor for negative phototaxis. ppR forms a 2:2 complex with its cognate transducer protein (pHtrII) through intramembranous hydrogen bonds: Tyr199(ppR)-Asn74(pHtrII) and Thr189(ppR)-Glu43 (pHtrII), Ser62(pHtrII). It was reported that a pHR mutant (P240T/F250Y), which possesses the hydrogen-bonding sites, impairs its pumping activity upon complexation with pHtrII. In this study, effect of the complexation with pHtrII on the structural changes upon formation of the K, L(1) and L(2) intermediates of pHR was investigated by use of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The vibrational changes of Tyr250(pHR) and Asn74(pHtrII) were detected for the L(1) and L(2) intermediates, supporting that Tyr250(pHR) forms a hydrogen bond with Asn74(pHtrII) as similarly to Tyr199(ppR). The conformational changes of the retinal chromophore were never affected by complexation with pHtrII, but amide-I vibrations were clearly different in the absence and presence of pHtrII. The molecular environment around Asp156(pHR) in helix D is also slightly affected. These additional structural changes are probably related to blocking of translocation of a chloride ion from the extracellular to the cytoplasmic side during the photocycle.