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BackgroundPatients with nervous system and musculoskeletal diseases display gait disturbance that is a leading cause of falls. Identification of disease-specific movement hallmarks is therefore an essential first step in preventing falls. Since turning, a common daily activity, is a unique movement that requires inter-limb spatial coordination, turning may be a suitable observational target for the identification of disease-specific movement disorder. However, to date, few comprehensive systematic review regarding disease-specific alterations in turning movement is available.Research questionThis systematic review with meta-analysis summarized the level of knowledge regarding movement disorders during turning in patients with nervous system and musculoskeletal diseases.MethodsA systematic review was conducted of papers throughout 2021 in accordance with PRISMA guideline. Including criteria were (1) were published in a peer-reviewed journal, (2) were written in English, (3) included adult patients who were diagnosed with musculoskeletal or nervous system diseases, (4) had a control group of age-matched healthy adults, and (5) outcomes included turning parameters.ResultsMeta-analysis revealed a significantly larger step number, longer turn duration, and shorter step length in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) than in controls during the 180° turn, suggesting that these biomechanical alterations may be, at least in part, movement disorders associated with PD. Notably, this review identified methodological heterogeneity for turning movement assessments, which limited the identification of disease-specific movement disorders.SignificanceThis work serves as a call to action for the establishment of a standard assessment protocol towards the identification of disease-specific turning movement disorders and effective disease screening.

Objective: To examine the association between dynamic balance measurements and community ambulation levels among individuals with chronic stroke. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2-day care facilities for older adults located in urban areas. Forty-seven community-dwelling poststroke adults who could walk independently were participated. Community ambulation performance was assessed using the Functional Ambulation Classification of the Hospital at Sagunto (FACHS). Dynamic balance and mobility were measured with the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest), the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, and 10 m maximum walking speed. Results: Participants were classified into 3 groups according to FACHS scores: household (n = 15), neighborhood (n = 19), and community walkers (n = 13). Neighborhood and community walkers scored significantly higher on the Mini-BESTest and had a shorter TUG test time than household walkers. Community walkers had a significantly faster walking speed than household walkers, whereas neighborhood walkers did not have a faster walking speed than household walkers. Ordinal logistic regression analyses revealed the Mini-BESTest score (odds ratio [OR] 1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-1.44) and the TUG test time (OR .91; 95% CI: .85-.98) were significantly associated with ambulation levels after adjusting for confounders. Conclusions: Dynamic balance measurement tools may have better responsiveness in detecting community ambulation levels among individuals with chronic stroke than walking speed.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with stroke frequently experience mobility deficits and limited community reintegration. This study aimed to investigate life-space mobility and relevant factors in community-living individuals with stroke. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 46 community-dwelling individuals with chronic stroke in Japan (mean age 72.7 ± 7.4 years; mean time post-stroke 63.6 ± 43.3 months; 26 men/20 women). We measured life-space mobility using a Japanese translation of the Life-Space Assessment. The following factors that might affect life-space mobility were assessed: the ability to perform activities of daily living, physical performance, fear of falling, and cognitive function. RESULTS: A total of 41 participants (89.1%) had restricted life-space mobility (Life-Space Assessment score

We examined the behavioral characteristics of reactive turning in hemiplegic stroke patients when they were informed of the turning direction just before turning was required at an unpredictable time. Eleven stroke patients and 20 healthy elderly control people were asked to initiate a turn as soon as a visual cue to inform them of the turning direction was activated unpredictably using a foot switch. Both the segmental reorientation and stepping type when turning 90° while walking were measured. The results indicated preserved segmental reorientation of the head and pelvis in stroke patients. Stroke patients showed delays in pelvic turning but not in head turning. Their delayed pelvic movement might be due to motor dysfunction and the time taken to ensure stability when deciding when to turn.

We demonstrate how the resolution and imaging depth limitations of nonlinear optical microscopy can be overcome by modulating the spatial overlap between two-color pulses. We suppress out-of-focus signals, which limit the imaging depth, by a factor of 100, and enhance the lateral and axial resolution by factors of 1.6 and 1.4–1.8 respectively. Using spatial overlap modulation, we demonstrate background-free three-dimensional imaging of fixed mouse brain tissue at depths for which the signals of the conventional technique are swamped by background noise from out-of-focus regions.

SUMMARY Acetic acid simulating a persistent organic compound in water was decomposed by a discharge on water using a thin blade electrode. The thin blade electrode facilitates the generation of wide-ranging discharges on water. The effect of differences in the species of the supply gas and the discharge power on the decomposition of acetic acid was investigated. Compared with argon, when helium was used, a larger amount of acetic acid was decomposed. Experiments also confirmed that the decomposition rate of acetic acid rose with the discharge power. It was also found that the decomposition efficiency was improved when the discharge power was reduced. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 186(1): 1–10, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.22318

Various conformation-dependent properties of chain molecules have been successfully treated within the rotational isomeric state approximation. The conformation entropy is one of such properties which can be readily defined by the partition function, the sum of all possible configurations of the chain. Flexible polymers often exhibit crystallization and in some cases liquid-crystallization as well. In these first-order transitions, changes in the spatial arrangement of polymer chains are considered to be a major factor involved. In order to explicitly determine the conformational contribution to the melting entropy, the latent entropy observed under the isobaric condition must be corrected for the volume change. The entropy separation involves a hypothetical assumption that the volume of the isotropic fluid may be compressed to that of the solid state without affecting the configurational part of the entropy of molecules. Finally thermodynamic significance of the conformation entropy in these transitions is emphasized on the basis of the critical studies of the entropy-volume relation of chain molecules in the liquid state.

A conventional method of estimating conformational entropy change at the melting point of polymers has been set forth in Mandelkern's book. The entropy separation according to this method involves a hypothetical assumption that the volume of the isotropic fluid may be compressed to that of the solid state without affecting the configurational part of the entropy of molecules. In this work, we have extensively examined the volume dependence of thermal pressure coefficient γ = (δP/δT) V = (δS/δV) T of n-undecane. Molecular dynamic simulations were performed using the software package Insight II/Discover. In the standard calculation, a cubic box containing 30 n-undecane molecules was used under the conventional periodic boundary conditions. The experimental observations were well reproduced by the MD simulation performed as above, and accordingly the γ vs specific volume (υ sp ) relations derived from the simulation are favorably compared with those obtained from the experimental PVT data. The γ values remain quite insensitive to υ sp over a wide range at given temperatures. Values of the trans fraction were found to decrease with an increase in temperature, while they tend to remain quite insensitive to pressure (0-200 MPa). It was concluded on this basis that the aforementioned treatment of the volume change at the phase transition seems to be supported by the present analysis.

Our previous studies on the structure-property relation of dimer liquid crystals (LC), α,ω-bis(4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-yloxy)alkanes (CBA-n, n=9, 10), have been extended to include trimer compounds, 4,4′-bis[ω-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-yloxy)alkoxy]biphenyls (CBA-Tn, n=9,10), comprising three mesogenic units jointed by two intervening spacers. These nematic-LC-forming compounds were chosen as a model for the mainchain-type polymer LCs on the assumption that the spatial configuration and thermodynamic roles of the flexible spacer are nearly identical as long as the chemical structure of the repeating unit is similar. The 2H NMR method was extensively used to elucidate the orientational characteristics of these molecules in the mesophase. The analysis of binary mixtures with a low molar mass (monomer) LC gave an important information regarding the mesophase structure of CBA-Tn as well as CBA-n. The pressure–volume–temperature (PVT) relation was determined to estimate the constant–volume transition entropies at the Interphase such as crystal/nematic LC/isotropic melt. The results were found to be favorably compared with the conformational entropy changes derived on the basis of the rotational isomeric state analysis of the 2H NMR data. Finally, an important role of the flexible spacer was emphasized in determining the molecular ordering as well as thermodynamic properties of mainchain-type LCs.

ネマチック液晶を発現する二量体α, ω-bis (4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-yloxy) alkanes (CBA-n, n=9,10) および三量体化合物4,4′-bis [ω- (4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-yloxy) alkoxy] biphenyls (CBA-Tn, n=9,10) について, 2H NMRデータの回転異性状態解析およびPVT測定から定容相転移エントロピーを求めることにより, 以下のような結論が導かれた. (1) 主鎖型二, 三量体化合物は, 液晶状態でスペーサーと両端メソゲンのいずれもが適度な配向を保てるような形態を取ろうとする結果, 液晶場の軸に対してメソゲン軸は平均的にやや傾いて配位している. (2) それにも関わらずNI転移点が単量体液晶よりもかなり高いのは, スペーサーの両端に位置するメソゲンの空間的配向が必ずしも独立ではなく, 分子軸方向の分極率の異方性が, 単量体の場合よりも平均的にかなり大きいためであろう. (3) 液晶場に対する分子の配向は温度によって大きく変化するが, スペーサーのネマチック・コンホメーションは液晶領域を通してほぼ安定している. (4) 結晶相-液晶相, ならびに液晶相-等方相転移において, 主鎖型二, 三量体液晶が示す常圧下での転移エントロピーのかなりの部分 (50～60%) はスペーサーのコンホメーション変化に基づくものであることをコンホメーション解析ならびにPVT測定で確認した. 最後に, モデル化合物の解析から導かれたスペーサーの立体化学的ならびに熱力学的役割は, 主鎖型高分子液晶にそのまま当てはまると考えられることを指摘した.

We demonstrate nonlinear optical microscopy modulating the spatial overlap between two-color pulses, which provides the enhancement of the three-dimensional spatial resolution and the suppression of the out-of-focus signals in deep imaging.