Therapeutic Efficacy of Twin-Block and Fixed Oral Appliances in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of twin-block (i.e., allows mouth opening) and fixed (i.

Japanese university students' views on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals based on previous encounters.

Objective: To elucidate the acceptability of sexual minorities according to Japanese youth, we conducted a survey targeting university students.

Methods: Participants were second- to fourth-year students (n=945) at Ibaraki University, Japan, who were randomly chosen for the survey to measure their attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. We divided the respondents into two groups: one group who had encounters with LGBT people, and one group with no such experience.

Prevalence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender among Japanese university students: a single institution survey.

Objective: To elucidate the prevalence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) among Japanese youth, we conducted a survey research that targeted university students.

Materials And Methods: Participants were first-year students (n=1597) at Ibaraki University, Japan (Phase 1 study) or second- to fourth-year students (n=944) at the university who were randomly preferred in the survey (Phase 2 study). Surveys measured gender identity and sexual orientation, partly using the gender identity scale (GIS).

Wisdom teeth extraction in a patient with moyamoya disease.

Moyamoya disease is a rare neurovascular disorder that involves constriction of certain arteries in the brain. In patients with moyamoya disease, it is very important to prevent cerebral ischemic attacks and intracerebral bleeding caused by fluctuating blood pressure and increased respiration. A 40-year-old woman with moyamoya disease was scheduled for extraction of her right upper and lower impacted wisdom teeth.

Of mice and men--universality and breakdown of behavioral organization.

Mental or cognitive brain functions, and the effect on them of abnormal psychiatric diseases, are difficult to approach through molecular biological techniques due to the lack of appropriate assay systems with objective measures. We therefore study laws of behavioral organization, specifically how resting and active periods are interwoven throughout daily life, using objective criteria, and first discover that identical laws hold both for healthy humans subject to the full complexity of daily life, and wild-type mice subject to maximum environmental constraints. We find that active period durations with physical activity counts successively above a predefined threshold, when rescaled with individual means, follow a universal stretched exponential (gamma-type) cumulative distribution, while resting period durations below the threshold obey a universal power-law cumulative distribution with identical parameter values for both of the mammalian species.

Multiscale probability density function analysis: non-Gaussian and scale-invariant fluctuations of healthy human heart rate.

For a detailed characterization of intermittency and non-Gaussianity of human heart rate, we introduce an analysis method to investigate the deformation process of the probability density function (PDF) of detrended increments when going from fine to coarse scales. To characterize the scale dependence of the multiscale PDF, we use two methods: 1) calculation of Kullback-Leibler relative entropy; 2) parameter estimation based on Castaing's equation (B. Castaing et al, 1990).

Phase transition in a healthy human heart rate.

A healthy human heart rate displays complex fluctuations which share characteristics of physical systems in a critical state. We demonstrate that the human heart rate in healthy individuals undergoes a dramatic breakdown of criticality characteristics, reminiscent of continuous second order phase transitions. By studying the germane determinants, we show that the hallmark of criticality--highly correlated fluctuations--is observed only during usual daily activity, and a breakdown of these characteristics occurs in prolonged, strenuous exercise and sleep.

Critical scale invariance in a healthy human heart rate.

We demonstrate the robust scale-invariance in the probability density function (PDF) of detrended healthy human heart rate increments, which is preserved not only in a quiescent condition, but also in a dynamic state where the mean level of the heart rate is dramatically changing. This scale-independent and fractal structure is markedly different from the scale-dependent PDF evolution observed in a turbulentlike, cascade heart rate model. These results strongly support the view that a healthy human heart rate is controlled to converge continually to a critical state.

Frequency characteristics of long-term heart rate variability during constant-routine protocol.

The effects of such behavioral factors as physical activity, food intake, and circadian rhythm on long-term heart rate variability (HRV) in humans remain poorly understood. We therefore studied their effects on HRV using a constant-routine protocol that included simultaneous core body temperature (CBT) correction. Seven healthy subjects completed the constant-routine and daily-routine protocols, during which HRV and CBT were continuously monitored.