The Weight-Bearing Rate on the Paretic Limb of Cerebrovascular Hemiplegic Patients Necessary for an Independent Obstacle Negotiation Gait

Purpose: The obstacle negotiation gait (ONG) is a fundamental activity of daily living. In cerebrovascular hemiplegic patients (stroke patients), the weight-bearing rate (WBR) on the paretic limb necessary for an independent ONG was studied. Methods: One hundred and seventeen stroke patients were involved. The patients'' average age at the time of the study was 67 years, and the average time from stroke onset was 102 days. There were 68 men and 49 women. Seventy patients were right hemiplegics, and 47 were left hemiplegics. The correlations between ONG and age, sex, body mass index (BMI), time from stroke onset, muscle strength of both the paretic and non-paretic limbs, Brunnstrom stage of the lower limbs, deep sensation, and the WBR on both the paretic and non-paretic limbs were studied. Patients who could perform ONG independently and safely were categorized as the independent group (IG), and those who needed observation or any assistance were categorized as the dependent group (DG). Results: The BMI, muscle strength of both the paretic and non-paretic limbs, Brunnstrom stage of the lower limbs, deep sensation and the WBR for both the paretic and non-paretic limbs were significantly different between the IG and DG groups. In particular, the WBR on the paretic limb was found to correlate significantly with the ONG, and a WBR value of 80.5% on the paretic limb gave a clear cut-off value. Conclusion: Although multiple factors influenced the ONG of stroke patients, the WBR on the paretic limb was the most influential.     

Thallium selenate (Tl2SeO4) in a paraelastic phase by X‐ray powder diffraction

The structure of thallium selenate, Tl₂SeO₄, in a paraelastic phase (above 661 K) has been analysed by Rietveld analysis of the X‐ray powder diffraction pattern. Atomic parameters based on the isomorphic K₂SO₄ crystal in the paraelastic phase were used as the starting model. The structure was determined in the hexagonal space group P6₃/mmc, with a = 6.2916 (2) Å and c = 8.1964 (2) Å. From the Rietveld refinement it was found that two orientations are possible for the SeO₄ tetrahedra, in which one of their apices points randomly up and down with respect to [001]. One Tl atom lies at the origin with symmetry, the other Tl and one of the O atoms occupy sites with 3m symmetry, the Se atom is at a site with symmetry and the remaining O atom is at a site with m symmetry. Furthermore, it was also found that the Tl atoms display anomalously large positional disorder along [001] in the paraelastic phase.     

Covalent conjugation of tetrameric bovine liver catalase to liposome membranes for stabilization of the enzyme tertiary and quaternary structures

Tetrameric bovine liver catalase (BLC) is unstable because of its dissociation into subunits at low enzyme concentrations and the conformational change of the subunits at high temperatures. In this work, for stabilization of BLC, the enzyme was covalently conjugated with liposome membranes composed of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC), cholesterol and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-glutaryl (NGPE). The NGPE, which was responsible for the BLC/membrane coupling, was altered from 0.05 to 0.2 in its liposomal mole fraction f_G. The catalase-conjugated liposome (CCL) with f_G of 0.15 showed the maximum number of the conjugated BLC molecules of 28 per liposome. The reactivity of CCLs to H₂O₂ was as high as that of free BLC at 25 °C in Tris–HCl buffer of pH 7.4. Among the CCLs, the catalyst with f_G of 0.15 was the most stable at 55 °C in its enzyme activity in the buffer because the appropriate number of BLC/liposome covalent bonding prevented the dissociation-induced enzyme deactivation. Furthermore, the CCL showed much higher stability at 55 °C than the free BLC/enzyme-free liposome mixture and free BLC at the low BLC concentration of 340 ng/mL. This was because BLC in the CCL was located in the vicinity of the host membrane regardless of the catalyst concentration, which could induce the effective stabilization effect of the membrane on the enzyme tertiary structure as indicated by the intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence analysis. The results obtained demonstrate the high structural stability of BLC in the CCL system, which was derived from the covalent bonding and interaction between BLC and liposomes.     

Oligothiophene Self‐Assembly on the Surface of ZnO Nanorods: Toward Coaxial p–n Hybrid Heterojunctions

We describe herein the design, synthesis and detailed structural characterization of hybrid 1D nanostructures. They are prepared by supramolecular self‐assembly of oligothiophene molecules on the surface of zinc oxide nanorods in solution at room temperature. Electronic absorption spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction show that both organic and inorganic components in the coaxial p–n heterojunctions are crystalline. Especially, it is demonstrated that the organic compounds form a self‐assembled monolayer at the surface of the nanorods, which is not the case when zinc oxide quantum dots are instead used. As a result of their hybrid nature, the 1D nanostructures lead to ambipolar semiconducting nanostructured materials as active layers in field‐effect transistors.     

Characteristics of the series resonant-frequency shift of a quartz crystal microbalance in electrolyte solutions

We report the novel characteristics of the series resonant-frequency shift, DeltaF, of a one-face sealed quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) in solutions of monovalent electrolytes and divalent electrolytes. In the present study, we used NaCl, KCl, LiCl, NaNO3 and CH3COONa as monovalent electrolytes, and MgCl2, CaCl2, MgSO4 and Na2SO4 as divalent electrolytes. These experiments reveal that, in all the solutions, the DeltaF values vary linearly with an increase in the square root of the density-viscosity product of the solutions, and the immersion angle dependence of DeltaF appears. Moreover, we have found that the intercept values of DeltaF are dependent only on the cation species, and that the slope values of DeltaF with the viscosity and density of the solutions are related only to the valence of ions. We also suggest that the DeltaF values are independent of anion species, conductivity and permittivity of the solutions.     

Effect of ultrasonic irradiation on nucleation phenomena in a Na2HPO4.12H2O melt being used as a heat storage material

The effect of ultrasound on nucleation phenomena in the heat storage material Na2HPO4.12H2O was investigated by determining the primary nucleation probability and induction time, and by looking at heat generation phenomena in the initial stage of nucleation. The experimental results show that the primary nucleation probability dramatically increased, and the induction time decreased under the ultrasound irradiation, and in addition, the rate of temperature rise was dependent upon the ultrasonic output. Based on these results and the theoretical relationship between the number of primary nuclei and the heat generation rate, it is proposed that the number of primary nuclei depends upon the ultrasonic output.     

Toward n-channel organic thin film transistors based on a distyryl-bithiophene derivatives

Solution and solid-state properties of two new perfluoroalkyl end-substituted analogues of distyryl-bithiophene (CF₃-DS2T and diCF₃-DS2T) are presented. Vacuum deposited thin films were investigated by atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and implemented as active layers into organic thin film transistors. While physicochemical measurements in solution suggest a preferential hole injection and transport inside CF₃-DS2T and diCF₃-DS2T films, electrical measurements performed under high vacuum show that CF₃-DS2T behaves as n-type semiconductor while no charge transport was measured in diCF₃-DS2T. The results highlighted the importance of substituents on conjugated backbone and on the resulting fine ordering in solid state to control the charge transport.     

Sums Involving the Hurwitz Zeta Function

We shall prove a general closed formula for integrals considered by Ramanujan, from which we derive our former results on sums involving Hurwitz zeta-function in terms not only of the derivatives of the Hurwitz zeta-function, but also of the multiple gamma function, thus covering all possible formulas in this direction. The transition from the derivatives of the Hurwitz zeta-function to the multiple gamma function and vice versa is proved to be effected essentially by the orthogonality relation of Stirling numbers.     

Theoretical study on dependence of hyperpolarizability of one‐dimensional ring system on the delocalization transition

We calculate the optical properties such as the polarization, the (hyper)polarizabilities, the critical vector potential, etc., in terms of the non‐Hermitian Anderson model of a 6‐site ring model. The dependence of the optical properties on the delocalization transition is investigated. It is found that all the total optical properties nonlinearly increase with the increase of the delocalization. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2001     

Farey Series and the Riemann Hypothesis. IV

This is a direct continuation of Part II of this series of papers and we shall not only improve (numerically) all our former results in Part II, but also prove new theorems, Theorem 4 on the function f(t) = log Γ(t+λ) and Theorem 5 for k-th power moments, k = 2,...,7, by elaborating our previous arguments. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.