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Study Objectives: Periocular skin warming before bedtime has been demonstrated to improve subjective sleep initiation in healthy adults with sleep difficulties scored six or higher in the Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire Index. This study aimed to investigate the effects of periocular skin warming on sleep initiation and thermoregulation processes in patients with insomnia disorder. Methods: Participants included those with sleep difficulty (n = 22) and those with insomnia disorder (n = 16). Individuals from both groups were assessed at baseline (habitual sleep-wake schedule) and after two intervention conditions (use of a warming eye mask or a sham eye mask before habitual bedtime). The subjective and electroencephalographic sleep onset latency, along with proximal and distal skin temperature after periocular skin warming, were evaluated. Results: Periocular skin warming reduced objective sleep onset latency in independently of the group. Foot temperature and foot-proximal temperature gradient after getting into bed increased with periocular skin warming in independently of the group. However, the increase in hand temperature was observed only in the insomnia disorder group. Periocular skin warming also increased the normalized high frequency component of heart rate variability in independently of the group. The reduction of objective sleep onset latency was strongly associated with heat dissipation from the foot skin region. Conclusion: These results suggest that periocular skin warming promotes sleep initiation by enhancing heat dissipation from the distal skin regions in individuals with sleep difficulty and insomnia disorder. Periocular skin warming could thus be a novel non-pharmacological therapy for insomnia disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let ζ′( s) be the derivative of the Riemann zeta function ζ( s). A study on the value distribution of ζ′( s) at the non-trivial zeros ρ of ζ( s) is presented. In particular, for a fixed positive number X, an asymptotic formula and a non-trivial upper bound for the sum Σ ζ′( ρ) X as T → ∞ are given. We clarify the dependence on the arithmetic nature of X. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case of renal adenomatosis of the left kidney associated with a carcinoma of the ipsilateral ureter in a 49-year-old man is examined. One hundred and eight adenomas, which were smaller than 15 mm in diameter, and a single microcarcinoma, which measured 1 mm in diameter, were found in the kidney. Further, there were more than 800 hyperplastic lesions which could be classified into three groups: (i) 792 of distal origin; (ii) 24 of proximal origin; and 10 of collecting duct origin. The serial sections obtained from 19 paraffin blocks were stained using Leu M1 as the proximal marker and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) as the distal/ collecting marker to assist in determining the origins. Ten of the small adenomas (15 lesions), which did not exceed 3 mm in diameter, were predominantly positive for EMA and five were predominantly positive for Leu M1. Further, hyperplastic lesions of distal and collecting duct origins were diffusely positive for EMA and sporadically positive for Leu M1. The lesions of proximal origin were predominantly positive for Leu M1 and sporadically positive for EMA. These findings suggest that a progression from hyperplasia and a direct transition from a single tubule to adenoma occurred multifocally in different segments of the nephrons throughout the left kidney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the seismic velocity structure in the region of concentrated severe damage during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence, we conducted continuous seismic observations in the central area of Mashiki Town, Kumamoto Prefecture. During 4 days of observations at eight temporary sites, 2 months after the mainshock, recordings from 30 aftershocks (1.7 ≤ Mj ≤ 4.3, 1.9 km ≤ depth ≤ 13.5 km) were obtained. The aftershock data showed that site amplifications at approximately 1 Hz are dominant in a zone where almost no buildings were damaged along the Akitsu riverside, whereas site amplifications at higher than 3 Hz are observed in the heavily damaged zones. Our data also showed that the peak acceleration and velocity amplitudes, as well as seismic intensities for the small events in the less damaged zone, are clearly larger than those in the damaged zones, implying that the damage distribution is inconsistent with site response based on linear site amplifications. The estimated phase velocities of Rayleigh waves using the aftershock and microtremor data show dispersive characteristics in the lower frequency range (0.26 ≤ f ≤ 1.27 Hz), but the values are substantially smaller than those derived from the P-S logging model at the nearest KiK-net strong-motion observation station KMMH16. The derived microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios and earthquake radial-to-vertical (R/V) spectral ratios show common distinct peaks at around 0.4 Hz, which are possibly related to the response of deep sedimentary layers beneath the area. The refined velocity structure model that better accounts for both the phase velocity and common dominant peak indicates that the values of S wave velocity (Vs) above the bedrock layer (Vs = 2700 m/s) are smaller than those inferred from the logging model and the depth to the bedrock layer could be much deeper (about 600 m) in comparison with the logging model (234 m). The derived R/V spectral ratio at station KMMH16 also shows a distinct peak at 0.4 Hz, suggesting that there is no large difference of deep sedimentary structure between the observation area and station KMMH16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]