Association between Social Frailty and Sleep Quality among Community-dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective: We examined the association between social frailty and subjective sleep quality among community-dwelling adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited Japanese adults over the age of 60 years from health check-ups held in a public townhall in a suburban area between 2018 and 2019. Social frailty was evaluated using five criteria (living alone, not visiting friends sometimes, going out less frequently than the last year, not feeling helpful to friends or family, and not talking to someone every day) and categorized into three groups: non-frailty, pre-frailty, and frailty. Sleep quality was assessed according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) by giving participants a self-reported questionnaire. We performed multivariable linear regression analysis, denoting social frailty as an independent variable, and the global PSQI score as a dependent variable. Results: Data from 300 older adults were analyzed, 51.0% of whom were female. The participants'' mean age was 73.0 years (standard deviation = 5.8). Multivariable analysis revealed the notable association between social frailty and a high global PSQI score (compared with non-frailty, frailty: β = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.08 to 1.80, p = 0.033). Of the five determiners of social frailty, not talking with someone every day was especially associated with a high global PSQI score (β = 1.57, 95% CI = 0.49 to 2.66, p = 0.005). Conclusion: The present study suggests that social frailty is associated with poor sleep quality among community-dwelling older adults. Our findings indicate the importance of social frailty on sleep quality among older adults.     

Reaction optimization using solid-phase catalysis-CD HTS: Nb-imidazoline-Cu(I)-catalyzed asymmetric benzoylation of 1,2-diols

Catalytic asymmetric benzoylation of 1,2-diols has been developed using a solid-phase asymmetric catalyst. The reaction conditions were optimized by the screening of different metal salts, solvents, bases, and temperatures. High-throughput screening was performed using circular dichroism detection, and the results revealed that Nb-imidazoline-copper(I) in combination with diisopropylethylamine was able to catalyze with high enantioselectivity, giving the monobenzoylated products in high yields and excellent enantiomeric excesses of up to 95% ee. [reaction: see text]     

Synthesis and estimation of gelation ability of C3-symmetry tris-urea compounds

C₃-Symmetry tris-urea low molecular weight gelator (LMWG) (1), which shows chemical stimuli responsible for a sol-gel phase transition, was divided into five regions. Based on the division, 22 derivatives were synthesized. The gelation ability of these derivatives was tested in nine organic solvents with a wide range of values for relative static permittivity (?_r=47.2-1.89). Some derivatives showed a better performance as LMWGs than the original tris-urea LMWG (1). For example, the critical gelation concentration (CGC) in acetone was improved from 1.5 wt % to 0.5 wt % by changing the core substituent (18). Highly versatile LMWG for a variety of solvents was obtained by changing the linker moiety (23). Structural information to design tris-urea LMWGs is important to create rationally a functional supramolecular gel.     

Raman scattering from GaAs-InxGa1−xAs strained-layer superllatices

Measurements of Raman scattering were performed on GaAs-In_xGa_1?xAs strained-layer superlattices, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, with lattice periods ranging from 30 ～ 250 Å and In concentrations x, 0.22 and 0.37. Only one GaAs-like longitudinal optical phonon peak was observed in each strained-layer superlattice, in contrast to the well-known result that two peaks were observed in GaAs-Al_xGa_1?xAs superlattices. The GaAs-like phonon frequencies shifted from those of bulk GaAs to those of bulk In_xGa_1?xAs alloys as the ratio of the one-layer thickness of In_xGa_1?xAs to the lattice period increases from zero to one. We conclude that the GaAs-like phonon mode is a uniform mode of the whole strained-layer superlattice and the phonon frequency is determined by the averaged In concentration.     

Electric field gradient in Mg and Zn detected by β-emitters,8Li and12x0392;x0392;x0392;

The quadrupole coupling constants of⁸Li and¹²B in hcp Mg and Zn are determined by use of a newly developed nuclear quadrupole resonance technique (NNQR) as ¦eqQ(⁸Li in Mg)/h¦=3.0±0.3 kHz, ¦eqQ(⁸Li in Zn)/h¦=33.5±2 kHz, and ¦eqQ(¹²B in Mg)/h¦=47.0±0.1 kHz. Correspondingly, the electric field gradients at room temperature are deduced: ¦q(⁸Li in Mg)¦=(3.81±0.39)×10¹⁸, ¦q(⁸Li in Zn)¦=(4.25±0.27)×10¹⁹, and ¦q(¹²B in Mg)¦=(1.47±0.03)×10²⁰, all in V/m². The experiments are compared with the results of first-principles super-cell band structure calculations which can treat local lattice relaxations around the impurity nuclei. The calculations show that the most favorable location of these light interstitials in hcp Mg is not the octahedral-like sites which have the biggest interstitial volume, but the basal trigonal sites with a local lattice expansion of as big as 30%. Calculated electric field gradients at the impurity nuclei reproduce the experimental values fairly well.     

Comparisons of CIP,compact and CIP‐CSL2 schemes for reproducing internal solitary waves

Six different models were evaluated for reproducing internal solitary waves which occur and propagate in a stratified flow field with a sharp interface. Three stages were used to compute internal solitary waves in a stratified field: (1) first‐phase computation of momentum equations, (2) second‐phase computation of momentum equations, which corresponds to computing the Poisson's equation, and (3) density computation. The six models discussed in this paper consisted of combinations of four different schemes, a three‐point combined compact difference scheme (CCD), a normal central difference scheme (CDS), a cubic‐polynomial interpolation (CIP), and an exactly conservative semi‐Lagrangian scheme (CIP‐CSL2). The residual cutting method was used to solve the Poisson's equation. Three tests were used to confirm the validity of the computations using KdV theory; i.e. the incremental wave speed and amplitude of internal solitary waves, the maximum horizontal velocity and amplitude, and the wave form. In terms of the shape of an internal solitary wave, using CIP for momentum equations was found to provide better performance than CCD. These results suggest one of the most appropriate scheme for reproducing internal solitary waves may be one in which CIP is used for momentum equations and CCD to solve the Poisson's equation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Permeation flux of organic molecules through silica-surfactant nanochannels in a porous alumina membrane.

The permeation fluxes of phenol, benzene sulfonate (BS) and benzene disulfonate (BDS) through a porous anodic alumina membrane with the perpendicularly oriented silica-surfactant nanochannel assembly membrane (NAM) were measured in water-ethanol mixture media. The permeation flux depended on solute charges and on solvent composition. As the ethanol ratio increased, the fluxes of BS and BDS increased and the flux of phenol decreased. The results of extraction/elution experiments also depended on the solute charges and the solvent composition. Chromatographic experiments in n-hexane showed that dipole and hydrophobic interactions affect the retention of solutes. Permeation of the solute across the NAM in water-ethanol mixture is likely to be determined by various factors such as dipole interaction, hydrophobic interaction, solvation, and anion-exchange efficiencies.     

Dependence of aerodynamic characteristics and flow pattern on surface structure of a baseball

In this report, the aerodynamic characteristics, such as lift and drag, of an official rubber baseball are studied experimentally by comparing the characteristics of a sphere having a smooth surface and those of spheres having different surface structures. In addition, the flow velocity distribution is measured quantitatively using the spark tracing method. From the obtained results, the flow patterns for these baseballs and the flow mechanism around a sphere have been clarified.