Effects of Posture and Acute Sleep Deprivation on Heart Rate Variability

PURPOSE: In our previous study to investigate autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity due to radio frequency (RF) radiation using heart rate variability (HRV), drowsiness was observed in approximately half of all subjects. Therefore, the usage of HRV with unwanted drowsiness could falsely indicate the effects of RF radiation by mobile phones on the ANS. The objective of this study was to determine which posture is appropriate for accurate HRV analysis for provocation study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 52 healthy subjects (25 males and 27 females) participated in this experiment. We measured the number of times a subject showed drowsiness or sleep deprivation due to awakening, and analyzed HRV six times over 30 minutes in sitting and recumbent postures, using power spectrum. RESULTS: We employed the ratio of low frequency power to high frequency power (LFP/HFP) to analyze the changes in the ANS. The number of sleep deprivation occurrences in the sitting posture was significantly less than that in the recumbent posture (p<0.01), resulting in smaller increase of LFP/HFP. Although LFP/HFP of the two postures varied with time without any provocation, it was more stable in sitting than in recumbent postures. CONCLUSION: A sitting posture is preferable to a recumbent posture for analyzing HRV, because of decreased drowsiness and sleep deprivation, thereby decreasing variation of LFP/HFP during experiment. Considering the drowsiness, it is also recommended that any experiment should be completed within 15 minutes, if possible.ope

A Case of Santorinicele without Pancreas Divisum: Diagnosis with Multi-detector Row Computed Tomography

A santorinicele is defined as a focal cystic dilatation of the terminal portion of the dorsal pancreatic duct at the minor papilla. Most cases reported previously were associated with pancreas divisum and a santorinicele without pancreas divisum is known to be rare. We recently experienced a typical case of a santorinicele without pancreas divisum in a 67-yr-old woman with abdominal pain and hematochezia, subsequently proven to be the result of an ischemic colitis. The santorinicele was diagnosed incidentally with multi-detector row computed tomography using a minimum intensity projection technique, which clearly showed a cystic dilatation of the terminal portion of the dorsal pancreatic duct and a communication between the ventral and dorsal pancreatic ducts. This finding was also confirmed by a magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography

Pear Skin Stain Caused by Mycosphaerella graminicola on Niitaka Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai)

Pear skin stains on ‘Niitaka’ pears, which occur from the growing stage to the cold storage stage, reportedly negatively influence the marketing of pears. These stains on fruit skin are likely due to a pathogenic fungus that resides on the skin and is characterized by dark stains; however, the mycelium of this fungus does not penetrate into the sarcocarp and is only present on the cuticle layer of fruit skin. A pathogenic fungus was isolated from the skin lesions of infected fruits, and its pathogenicity was subsequently tested. According to the pathogenicity test, Mycosphaerella sp. was strongly pathogenic, while Penicillium spp. and Alternaria spp. showed modest pathogenicity. In this present study, we isolated the pathogenic fungus responsible for the symptoms of pears (i.e., dark brown-colored specks) and identified it as Mycosphaerella graminicola based on its morphological characteristics and the nucleotide sequence of the beta-tubulin gene. M. graminicola was pathogenic to the skin of ‘Niitaka’ pears, which are one of the most widely growing varieties of pears in South Korea

Physical and Electrical Analysis of Poly-Si Channel Effect on SONOS Flash Memory

In this study, polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) is applied to silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) flash memory as a channel material and the physical and electrical characteristics are analyzed. The results show that the surface roughness of silicon nitride as charge trapping layer (CTL) is enlarged with the number of interface traps and the data retention properties are deteriorated in the device with underlying poly-Si channel which can be serious problem in gate-last 3D NAND flash memory architecture. To improve the memory performance, high pressure deuterium (D2) annealing is suggested as a low-temperature process and the program window and threshold voltage shift in data retention mode is compared before and after the D2 annealing. The suggested curing is found to be effective in improving the device reliability