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Kazuno Negishi,1 Sachiko Masui,1 Masahiko Ayaki,1,2 Hidemasa Torii,1 Erisa Yotsukura,1 Yasuyo Nishi1 1Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku‑Ku, Tokyo, Japan; 2Otake Clinic Moon View Eye Center, Yamato-City, Kanagawa, JapanCorrespondence: Kazuno Negishi, Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku‑Ku, Tokyo, 160‑8582, Japan, Tel +81-3-3353-1211, Fax +81-3-3359-8302, Email kazunonegishi@keio.jpPurpose: To compare the clinical results achieved with the enhanced monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) with those of the monofocal IOL and investigate factors affecting the distance, intermediate, and near vision.Patients and Methods: Patients were included who underwent bilateral consecutive cataract surgeries using the same IOLs with follow-up to 1 month postoperatively. Refractions, monocular UDVA and CDVA, and binocular distance-corrected functional visual acuity at 5 meters (BDCFVA), at 66 centimeters (BDCIFVA) and at 40 centimeters (DCNVA) were assessed. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the factors affecting binocular BDCFVA, BDCIFVA, and BDCNFVA. Subjective symptoms were assessed using the Near Activity Visual Questionnaire (NAVQ) and visual analogue scale (VAS).Results: Sixty patients (120 eyes) implanted with the Tecnis Eyhance IOL (30 patients, 60 eyes) or the Tecnis monofocal IOL (30 patients, 60 eyes) were included. The Tecnis Eyhance IOL provided significantly better binocular BDCIFVA than the Tecnis monofocal IOL in patients under 70 years of age. Multiple regression analysis showed that age was the only factor affecting distance and intermediate visual function in eyes with the Tecnis Eyhance IOL; gender, pupillary diameter, axial length, and average keratometry were not significant. There were no significant differences in subjective symptoms.Conclusion: The comprehensive cohort analysis did not confirm the advantage on the intermediate vision of the Tecnis Eyhance IOL. Younger age may be an important factor to benefit from the unique optical characteristics of this IOL.Keywords: presbyopia correcting intraocular lens, intermediate vision, functional visual acuity, age

Yuki Nishi,1,2 Hayato Shigetoh,1 Ren Fujii,1 Michihiro Osumi,1,3 Shu Morioka1,3 1Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Science, Kio University, Nara, Japan; 2Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nishiyamato Rehabilitation Hospital, Nara, Japan; 3Neurorehabilitation Research Center, Kio University, Nara, JapanCorrespondence: Yuki NishiDepartment of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Science, Kio University, 4-2-2 Umaminaka, Koryo-cho, Kitakatsuragi-gun, Nara, 635-0832, JapanTel +81-74-554-1601Fax +81-74-554-1600Email y.nishi.pt@gmail.comBackground: Individuals with chronic low back pain (CLBP) experience changes in gait control due to pain and/or fear. Although CLBP patients’ gait has been performed in laboratory environments, changes in gait control as an adaptation to unstructured daily living environments may be more pronounced than the corresponding changes in laboratory environments. We investigated the impacts of the environment and pathology on the trunk variability and stability of gait in CLBP patients.Methods: CLBP patients (n=20) and healthy controls with no low-back pain history (n=20) were tasked with walking in a laboratory or daily-living environment while wearing an accelerometer on the low back. We calculated the stride-to-stride standard deviation and multiscale sample entropy as indices of “gait variability” and the maximum Lyapunov exponent as an index of “gait stability” in both the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions. The participants were assessed on the numerical rating scale for pain intensity, the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, and the Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire for quality of life (QOL).Results: In a repeated-measures ANOVA, the standard deviation was affected by environment in the anterior-posterior direction and by group and environment in the medial-lateral direction. Multiscale sample entropy showed no effect in the anterior-posterior direction and showed both effects in the medial-lateral direction. Maximum Lyapunov exponents showed both effects in the anterior-posterior direction, but none in the medial-lateral direction. These changes of trunk motor control by CLBP patients were found to be related to pain intensity, fear of movement, and/or QOL in the daily-living environment but not in the laboratory environment.Conclusion: These results revealed that CLBP patients exhibit changes in trunk variability and stability of gait depending on the environment, and they demonstrated that these changes are related to pain, fear, and QOL. We propose useful accelerometer-based assessments of qualitative gait in CLBP patients’ daily lives, as it would provide information not available in a general practice setting.Keywords: chronic low back pain, daily-living gait, variability index, stability index, inertial sensor

While the recent establishment of the role of thermophoresis/diffusion-driven oxygen migration during resistance switching in metal oxide memristors provided critical insights required for memristor modeling, extended investigations of the role of oxygen migration during ageing and failure remain to be detailed. Such detailing will enable failure-tolerant design, which can lead to enhanced performance of memristor-based next-generation storage-class memory. Here, we directly observed lateral oxygen migration using in-situ synchrotron x-ray absorption spectromicroscopy of HfOx memristors during initial resistance switching, wear over millions of switching cycles, and eventual failure, through which we determined potential physical causes of failure. Using this information, we reengineered devices to mitigate three failure mechanisms and demonstrated an improvement in endurance of about three orders of magnitude.

Hayato Shigetoh,1,2 Yuki Nishi,1 Michihiro Osumi,3 Shu Morioka1,3 1Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio University, Koryo, Nara, Japan; 2Miura Internal Medicine Michiko Pediatrics Clinic, Marugame City, Kagawa, Japan; 3Neurorehabilitation Research Center, Kio University, Nara, JapanCorrespondence: Hayato Shigetoh Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio UniversityKoryo, 4 Chome-2-2 Umaminaka, Kitakatsuragi District, Nara 635-0832, JapanTel +81 745 54 1601Fax +81 745 54 1600Email hayato.pt1121@gmail.comPurpose: The cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between pain-related factors and muscle activity in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) are unclear. This study aimed to examine the temporal associations between them in a CLBP patient using a single-case analysis to account for an individual course.Patient and Methods: A patient with a history of lower back pain lasting more than 3 months was studied from March 16, 2020 to May 30, 2020. Surface electromyographic signals were recorded from over the bilateral lumbar erector spinae in the patient while performing a standing trunk flexion and re-extension task. The average value for muscle activity during each movement phase was estimated, and the flexion relaxation ratio (FRR) of all channels was subsequently calculated. Pain-related factors and disability were assessed using questionnaires. All assessments were performed nine times, along with 2– 3 months of intervention. Once or twice per week, the patient received physical therapy that consisted of soft tissue mobilization, joint mobilization, nerve mobilization, and patient education. A cross-lag correlation analysis of this single case was conducted.Results: Pain-related factors showed a trend toward improvements in all variables when compared to those in the first assessment; however, there was no general change (increase) in FRR over time. The cross-lag correlation analysis revealed that improvements in FRR were associated with improvements in body perception disturbance (ρ = − 0.78, p < 0.01), and that improvements in muscle activity during the extension phase were associated with improvements in pain (ρ = 0.75), psychological factors (ρ = 0.57), and disability (ρ = 0.67) (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Our findings suggest that improvements in body perception were temporally associated with improvements in FRR, and improvements in pain, psychological factors, and disability were temporally associated with a reduction in muscle activity during the trunk extension phase in this patient with CLBP.Keywords: chronic low back pain, pain-related factors, abnormal muscle activities, cross-lag correlation

Yoichi Tanaka,1,2 Yuki Nishi,1 Yuki Nishi,1 Michihiro Osumi,3 Shu Morioka1,3 1Department of Neurorehabilitation, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kio University, 2Department of Rehabilitation, Nara Prefecture General Rehabilitation Center, 3Department of Neurorehabilitation Research Center, Kio University, Nara, Japan Abstract: Pain is a subjective emotional experience that is influenced by psychosociological factors such as social skills, which are defined as problem-solving abilities in social interactions. This study aimed to reveal the relationships among pain, social skills, and other psychosociological factors by using structural equation modeling. A total of 101 healthy volunteers (41 men and 60 women; mean age: 36.6±12.7 years) participated in this study. To evoke participants’ sense of inner pain, we showed them images of painful scenes on a PC screen and asked them to evaluate the pain intensity by using the visual analog scale (VAS). We examined the correlation between social skills and VAS, constructed a hypothetical model based on results from previous studies and the current correlational analysis results, and verified the model’s fit using structural equation modeling. We found significant positive correlations between VAS and total social skills values, as well as between VAS and the “start of relationships” subscales. Structural equation modeling revealed that the values for “start of relationships” had a direct effect on VAS values (path coefficient =0.32, p

Yutaro Nishi,1,2 Tomohiro Ikeda,1 Kayo Nishi,2 Osamu Mimura1 1Department of Ophthalmology, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, 2Nishi Eye Hospital, Osaka, Japan Background and objective: We investigated the yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) capsulotomy rates in various intraocular lenses (IOLs). Study design/patients and methods: We retrospectively analyzed 23,440 eyes implanted with either MA60BM, MA60AC, VA-60BB, CeeOnEdge, Clariflex, Technis Z9002, SI-40NB, or UV26T IOLs. We calculated the YAG capsulotomy rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years post lens implantation. Results: YAG capsulotomy rates at 3 years postimplantation for the eight groups of IOLs were, respectively, 3.7%, 3.9%, 23.7%, 3.4%, 4.5%, 4.7%, 10.4%, and 21.0%. YAG capsulotomy rates at 10 years postimplantation for the MA60BM and SI-40NB IOLs were, respectively, 9.1% and 15% (P

The charge trapping at the interface between the two dielectric layers of a high-k gate stack caused by Maxwell-Wagner instability is analyzed. The analysis shows that uniform dielectrics do not display Maxwell-Wagner instability and perfect crystals do not display dielectric relaxation, thus making the ideal high-k gate dielectric a uniform single-layer perfect crystal bonded epitaxially to the Si substrate.

Free radicals from processing plasmas are known to cause damage to dielectric films used in semiconductor devices. Many radicals are highly reactive and can readily interact with the material exposed to the plasma. This can modify the chemical structure of the material causing deterioration of electrical and mechanical properties of the films. This work detects the transmission of oxygen radicals through single- and double-layer silicon-nitride and silicon-dioxide freestanding films. The films were exposed to oxygen plasma. A fluorophore dye was used to detect the oxygen radicals traversing through the films. By measuring the fluorescence of the dye before and after multiple timedplasma exposures, the transmission properties of oxygen radicals through the material were found. The results indicate that the absorption length of oxygen radicals increases with increasing plasma exposure times for Si3N4 films because the oxygen plasma oxidizes the top layer of the film and forms a less dense silicon oxynitride layer. For SiO2 films, the absorption length was found to decrease as a function of plasma exposure time because of oxidation of the SiO2 surface which leads to the formation of a denser oxide layer on the surface of the sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]