Daytime sleepiness in Japanese patients with multiple system atrophy: prevalence and determinants

BACKGROUND: The recent SLEEMSA study that evaluated excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in Caucasian patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) demonstrated that EDS was more frequent in patients (28%) than in healthy subjects (2%). However, the prevalence and determinants of EDS in other ethnic populations have not been reported to date. METHODS: We performed a single-hospital prospective study on patients with probable MSA. To ascertain the prevalence and determinants of EDS in Japanese MSA patients, we assessed the patients’ degree of daytime sleepiness by using the Japanese version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). In addition, we investigated the effects of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and abnormal periodic leg movements in sleep (PLMS), which were measured by polysomnography, on the patients’ ESS scores. RESULTS: A total of 25 patients with probable MSA (21 patients with cerebellar MSA and 4 patients with parkinsonian MSA) were included in this study. All patients underwent standard polysomnography. The mean ESS score was 6.2 ± 0.9, and EDS was identified in 24% of the patients. SDB and abnormal PLMS were identified in 24 (96%) and 11 (44%) patients, respectively. The prevalences of EDS in patients with SDB and abnormal PLMS were 25% and 18%, respectively. No correlations were observed between ESS scores and the parameters of SDB or abnormal PLMS. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of EDS in Japanese patients with MSA was similar to that in Caucasian MSA patients. SDB and abnormal PLMS were frequently observed in MSA patients, although the severities of these factors were not correlated with EDS. Further investigations using objective sleep tests need to be performed

Observation of band crossings protected by nonsymmorphic symmetry in the layered ternary telluride Ta3SiTe6

We have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of layered ternary telluride Ta3SiTe6 which is predicted to host nodal lines associated with nonsymmorphic crystal symmetry. We found that the energy bands in the valence-band region show Dirac-like dispersions which present a band degeneracy at the R point of the bulk orthorhombic Brillouin zone. This band degeneracy extends one-dimensionally along the whole SR high-symmetry line, forming the nodal lines protected by the glide mirror symmetry of the crystal. We also observed a small band splitting near EF which supports the existence of hourglass-type dispersions predicted by the calculation. The present results provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the interplay between exotic nodal fermions and nonsymmorphic crystal symmetry.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

The Early Effect Onset of SSRI to the Non-Organic-Pain in the Mouth and Face Area

These contents obtain the approval of Japanese Red Cross Takayama Hospital Ethics Committeeand it is considering sufficiently about the ethical models such as the protection of the privacy.There is not a state of the conflict of interests (COI )

Classification of Type A N-fold supersymmetry

Type A N-fold supersymmetry of one-dimensional quantum mechanics can be constructed by using sl(2) generators represented on a finite dimensional functional space. Using this sl(2) formalism we show a general method of constructing Type A N-fold supersymmetric models. We also present systematic generation of known models and several new models using this method.Comment: 15 pages in LaTeX2e, some comments and a reference adde

Prenatal Vitamin E Treatment Improves Lung Growth in Fetal Rats with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia

The aim of this study was to test the effects of vitamin E on fetal lung growth in rats with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). Experimental congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) was induced in rat fetuses by maternal administration of 100 mg nitrofen by gastric gavage on day 9.5 of gestation. Vitamin E was provided at days 16-20 of gestation, at 30 IU/day. Cesarean section was performed at day 21 of gestation. Immunohistochemistry was performed using anti-surfactant protein A (SP-A) and anti-SP-B polyclonal antibodies. RT-PCR evaluated SP-A and SP-B mRNA expressions. The lung weight/body weight ratio in rats with CDH was lower than the control (p<0.01). The number of type II pneumocytes positive for SP-A in untreated CDH rats (n=20) was lower than the control (n=20). The relative amounts of SP-A and SP-B were significantly higher in vitamin Etreated CDH rats (n=20) than untreated CDH rats (p<0.05). Our results suggest that antenatal vitamin E treatment increases the production of surfactant proteins in hypoplastic lung of rats with the CDH

Vertical oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor with extremely low off-state current

Oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (OSFETs) are actively developed for display applications. An OSFET exhibits a lower off-state current than a silicon FET and enables low-frequency driving. We developed the measurement method and revealed the OSFET exhibits an extremely low off-state current [1]. In addition, we discovered a c-axis aligned crystalline indium-gallium-zinc oxide (CAAC-IGZO) which was unique crystal morphology [2]. A display with a backplane formed using CAAC-IGZO FETs achieves low power consumption owing to idling-stop driving that allows an extremely low refresh rate [3]. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract