Neurotypicals with higher autistic traits have delayed visual processing of an approaching life-sized avatar’s gait: an event-related potentials study

IntroductionAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which is reportedly related to difficulties in the visual processing of human motion, such as biological motion and gestures. Moreover, neurotypical (here, we mention it as individuals without a diagnosis) adults with autistic traits are clumsier than those without autistic traits when passing by others. It is still unclear whether the clumsiness derived from atypical visual processing of another’s approaching gait motion. We aim to address this question by investigating the association between autistic traits in neurotypical adults and the visual processing of an approaching life-sized avatar’s gait.MethodsWe clarified a typical visual motion processing and autistic traits in daily life in 26 neurotypical adults by analyzing the subthreshold autism trait questionnaire (SATQ) score, a 24-item self-report scale of ASD, and event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to walking motion of a passing avatar. Videos of walking life-sized virtual avatars approaching and retreating were presented as visual stimuli.Results and discussionThe association between the participants’ SATQ scores and the latencies and amplitudes of the ERPs was examined. ERP components (N170 and P200) components were identified at T5 and T6 electrodes. Participants reporting higher SATQ scores had longer latencies of P200 at T6 and lower amplitudes of P200 at T5 and T6 electrodes for the approaching avatar than those reporting lower SATQ scores. These findings indicate that adults with autistic traits have delayed and less sensitive visual processing of the approaching avatar. It suggests that while passing another person, these individuals have atypical visual processing of their approach. This study may contribute to elucidating autistic traits from the perspective of visual processing in an environment simulating daily life

Management of ostium secundum atrial septal defect in the era of percutaneous trans-catheter device closure: 7-Year experience at a single institution

AbstractObjectivesThis study aimed to review the single institutional experience of the repair of secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) after the initiation of percutaneous trans-catheter device closure, to confirm the current management strategy and outcomes.MethodsFrom August 2005 to December 2012, a total of 1026 (659 females, age 27±21 years) consecutive patients underwent the repair of ASD. Including eight patients who converted to surgical repair, 317 patients (31%) underwent surgical repair and 709 (69%) underwent trans-catheter device closure.ResultsAn embolized device into the left atrium was surgically retrieved in one patient soon after trans-catheter device closure without any postoperative complications. The other patient developed left atrium to aorta fistula due to late erosion, and required the removal of implanted device and patch closure of fistula and ASD 3 months after trans-catheter device closure. Whereas serious central nerve system complications occurred in three patients after the surgical repair including a 75-year-old patient with postoperative transient atrial fibrillation who subsequently developed aspiration pneumonia and died; there were no mortalities and no morbidities associated with cranial nerve function after trans-catheter device closure. A number of patients approached through partial sternotomy with limited skin incision have increased per year, and the length of skin incision was 5.1±1.2cm in pediatric patients weighing less than 15kg (n=40), 6.9±1.9cm in the remaining pediatric patients (n=91), and 10.0±2.5cm in young adult females (n=10).ConclusionPercutaneous trans-catheter ASD closure was safely performed under the support of a surgical team. The cosmetic outcome of surgical closure is improving after initiation of partial sternotomy via limited skin incision for the pediatric population and young adult females. Prior to the treatment, the physicians must thoroughly inform patients and families of the advantages and disadvantages of both treatment options

Plate : persistent memory management for nonvolatile main memory

Over the past few years, nonvolatile memory has actively been researched and developed. Therefore, studying operating system (OS) designs predicated on the main memory in the form of a nonvolatile memory and studying methods to manage persistent data in a virtual memory are crucial to encourage the widespread use of nonvolatile memory in the future. However, the main memory in most computers today is volatile, and replacing highcapacity main memory with nonvolatile memory is extremely cost-prohibitive. This paper proposes an OS structure for nonvolatile main memory. The proposed OS structure consists of three functions to study and develop OSs for nonvolatile main memory computers. First, a structure, which is called plate, is proposed whereby persistent data are managed assuming that nonvolatile main memory is present in a computer. Second, we propose a persistent-data mechanism to make a volatile memory function as nonvolatile main memory, which serves as a basis for the development of OSs for computers with nonvolatile main memory. Third, we propose a continuous operation control using the persistent-data mechanism and plates. This paper describes the design and implementation of the OS structure based on the three functions on The ENduring operating system for Distributed EnviRonment and describes the evaluation results of the proposed functions

Constraining Neutrino Masses by CMB Experiments Alone

It is shown that a subelectronvolt upper limit can be derived on the neutrino mass from the CMB data alone in the Lambda CDM model with the power-law adiabatic perturbations, without the aid of any other cosmological data. Assuming the flatness of the universe, the constraint we can derive from the current WMAP observations is \sum m_nu < 2.0 eV at the 95% confidence level for the sum over three species of neutrinos (m_nu < 0.66 eV for the degenerate neutrinos). This constraint modifies little even if we abandon the flatness assumption for the spatial curvature. We argue that it would be difficult to improve the limit much beyond \sum m_nu \lesssim 1.5 eV using only the CMB data, even if their statistics are substantially improved. However, a significant improvement of the limit is possible if an external input is introduced that constrains the Hubble constant from below. The parameter correlation and the mechanism of CMB perturbations that give rise to the limit on the neutrino mass are also elucidated.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures; (v2) 34 pages, 12 figures; (v3) to appear in PR

A Catalogue of Morphologically Classified Galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: North Equatorial Region

We present a catalogue of morphologically classified bright galaxies in the north equatorial stripe (230 deg$^2$) derived from the Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Morphological classification is performed by visual inspection of images in the $g$ band. The catalogue contains 2253 galaxies complete to a magnitude limit of $r=16$ after Galactic extinction correction, selected from 2658 objects that are judged as extended in the photometric catalogue in the same magnitude limit. 1866 galaxies in our catalogue have spectroscopic information. A brief statistical analysis is presented for the frequency of morphological types and mean colours in the catalogue. A visual inspection of the images reveals that the rate of interacting galaxies in the local Universe is approximately 1.5% in the $r\le16$ sample. A verification is made for the photometric catalogue generated by the SDSS, especially as to its bright end completeness.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal. Table 2 available at http://www.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~fukugita/MCGpaper/table2.tx

The u'g'r'i'z' Standard Star Network

We present the 158 standard stars that define the u'g'r'i'z' photometric system. These stars form the basis for the photometric calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The defining instrument system and filters, the observing process, the reduction techniques, and the software used to create the stellar network are all described. We briefly discuss the history of the star selection process, the derivation of a set of transformation equations for the UBVRcIc system, and plans for future work.Comment: References to URLs in paper have been updated to reflect moved website. Accepted by AJ. 50 pages, including 20 pages of text, 9 tables, and 15 figures. Plain ASCII text versions of Tables 8 and 9 can be found at http://home.fnal.gov/~dtucker/ugriz/index.html (new URL

In Vivo Ocular Pharmacokinetic Model for Designing Dosage Schedules and Formulations of Ophthalmic Drugs in Human

The purpose of this study was to develop an in vivo pharmacokinetic model and parameters for predicting the concentrations of ophthalmic drugs in the anterior chamber after instillation into human eyes. We have already reported the usefulness of mathematical model including a diffusion process in rabbits 1). Timolol was used as a model ophthalmic drug. The concentrations of timolol and fluorescein in the tear fluid were determined after instillation into the eyes of human volunteers. The in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters in the tear fluid were estimated by the elimination profile according to a one-compartment model. The concentrations of timolol in the aqueous humor were obtained from the data previously reported 2),3). Other parameters of timolol were estimated from the concentration profiles of timolol in the aqueous humor according to a pharmacokinetic model including a corneal diffusion process. The parameters for human were almost equal to those for rabbits reported previously 1). This mathematical model and in vivo parameters will be effective to estimate the adequate regimen for ophthalmic chemotherapy and develop the ocular drug delivery systems