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Recently biomass resources for automotive fuel use are being actively studied. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) is drawing attention as a biomass diesel fuel, and vegetable oils are commonly used as fat sources for FAME. However, the properties of FAMEs differ greatly from those of ordinary petroleum-based diesel fuel and are also strongly dependent on the chemical structures and compositions of the fat sources. An experimental study was conducted concerning the influence of blending FAME into ordinary diesel fuel on the performance of diesel vehicles at low temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Japan is 9% among males and 3% among females. Up to 2.5 million patients are estimated to suffer from the disease, but limited number of facilities are capable of carrying out polysomnography (PSG), leaving more than 80% of these individuals are undiagnosed. In recent years, the development of new portable sleep monitoring (PMs) devices has been remarkable. We evaluate the correlation between the results of the LS-140 PMs device (Fukuda Denshi Tech Co. Ltd.), released in 2017, and those of PSG., Methods: We obtained contemporaneous data from the same patients by equipping 58 patients with PMs (LS-140) devices while they underwent PSG. Our primary outcome was Case 2 of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), i.e., the ICC (2.1). And we used a Bland-Altman analysis to compare the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) given by PSG and the respiratory event index (REI) given by LS-140 and examined the sensitivity and specificity of the REI relative to the AHI in the diagnosis of OSA. We also carried out the same comparison but in terms of the presence or absence of periodic limb movements (PLMs)., Results: The ICC (2.1) between The REI and the AHI was 0.944, a rather high value (p<0.0001). The mean difference between AHI and REI values was -3.6 (p<0.0001), indicating a negative fixed bias. Sensitivity may decrease in groups with PLMs., Conclusion: The REI and the AHI are highly correlated, giving LS-140 sufficient diagnostic sensitivity and specificity to screen for OSA., Competing Interests: We received LS-140 devices from Fukuda Denshi Co., Ltd. for use in this study.