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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]

Research was conducted to examine the Pd(II) complex-catalyzed enantioselective addition of enol silyl ethers to iminoacetic acid derivatives with specific focus on the reaction mechanism. It was found that highly optically active acylalanine derivatives can be obtained by the enantioselective Mannich-type reaction of enol silyl ethers with N-aryl-iminoacetic acid esters catalyzed by chiral palladium(II) complexes.

Ruthenium(II) complexes efficiently catalyze the hydrogenation of ketones to alcohols via an asymmetric reduction. The approach, which requires the modification of ruthenium(II) complexes with an arene and a chiral N-tosylated 1,2-diamine, was demonstrated in an experiment involving the asymmetric reduction of acetophenone to 1-phenylethanol in a 5:2 formic acid-triethylamine azeotropic solution.

A study was conducted on enantioselective addition of enol silyl ethers to palladium complex-catalyzed imines. The findings indicate that enantioselective Mannich-type reaction of enol silyl ethers with imines catalyzed by the novel chiral binuclear mu-hydroxo palladium(II) complex can be employed to obtain highly optically active acylalanine derivatives. Moreover, the acylalanine derivatives are also essential synthetic intermediates for numerous nonnatural amino acids.

Asymmetric reduction of imines occurs with transfer hydrogenation by a mixture of formic acid and triethylamine. Chiral Ru(II) complexes catalyze the reduction reaction. The eta(super 6)-arene and 1,2 diamine ligands in the catalyst influence the rate and enantioselectivity of the reaction. The chiral Ru complex generates a stereogenic sp(super 3) carbon by distinguishing the enantiofaces at the sp(super 2) nitrogen atom of the cyclic and acyclic imines.

A combination of mesitylene and TsDPEN and the new chiral Ru(II) catalyst can suitably be used for the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones. The nature of the aromatic and nitrogen-based ligands affect the enantioselectivity and rate of the reaction. The (R)-Ru(II) center contains a five-membered chelate ligand with a neutral amino and anionic amido moeity, a chloride and an eta(super 6)-benzene ligand.

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is applied to restore the holding function of the upper extremity of quadriplegics whose condition is due to spinal chord injury. In that case, the feedback concerning the state of a patient's finger is needed. As a realistic sensory feedback method, the information transmission by surface electrical stimulation to the shoulder of a patient with remaining sensation is considered. Experiments were performed for a normal subject and for quadriplegics, and the psychophysical characteristics were examined. The following observations were made: By using the stimulus with a time-varying intensity pattern, a phantom sensation (PS) moving on the surface between two electrodes is produced; by extending the idea to the case of three channels, PS is produced which moves around over a wide range on the shoulder. Then a discrimination experiment was performed for the range of PS movement, and it is shown that PS can be used as a practical method of sensory feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]