Measurements of the lateral cerebellar hemispheres using near-infrared spectroscopy through comparison between autism spectrum disorder and typical development.

The cerebellum plays a vital role in cognition, communication with the cerebral cortex, and fine motor coordination. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a portable, less restrictive, and noninvasive functional brain imaging method that can capture brain activity during movements by measuring the relative oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentrations in the blood. However, the feasibility of using NIRS to measure cerebellar activity requires discussion.

Atypical cortical activation during fine motor tasks in autism spectrum disorder.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty with coordinated fine motor skills, but the degree of difficulty significantly varies from person to person. To elucidate the cause of this diversity, we monitored brain activity during fine movement tasks (tying bowknots) by near-infrared spectroscopy in 17 adults with ASD and 18 adults with typical development matched for age, gender, and intelligence quotient (IQ). We also examined the relationship between brain activation and developmental characteristics, including ASD severity, using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient and the Multi-dimensional Scale for Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Comparative de novo transcriptome profiles in Asparagus officinalis and A. kiusianus during the early stage of Phomopsis asparagi infection.

Asparagus kiusianus, an important wild relative of cultivated asparagus (A. officinalis), exhibits resistance to stem blight disease caused by Phomopsis asparagi. However, the mechanisms underlying this resistance are not understood and no transcriptomic or genetic resources are available for this species.

Synthesis and RCM reactions using a recyclable Grubbs-Hoveyda metathesis catalyst activated by a light fluorous tag.

A recyclable Grubbs-Hoveyda second-generation catalyst activated by a light fluorous tag was prepared. The modified light fluorous catalyst exhibited higher catalytic activity than the parent or the previously reported light fluorous variant for RCM reactions and could be routinely recovered. The light fluorous tag incorporated in the catalyst served as both an activator as well as a handle for separation and recovery with fluorous solid-phase extraction.

Three-dimensional image reconstruction by digital tomo-synthesis using inverse filtering.

Conventional X-ray tomosynthesis with film can provide a sagittal slice image with a single scan. This technique has the advantage of enabling reconstruction of a sagittal slice which is difficult to obtain from the X-ray CT system. However, only an image on the focal plane is obtained by a single scan.

Individual custom-designed modelling for the finite element method to be used in the forward calculation of a body surface isopotential map.

Body surface potential maps differ considerably in their pattern even among normals, depending upon torso configuration. Thus individualized modelling of the heart-torso model is certainly desirable for a forward problem if it can be achieved without much effort. In this paper such a heart-torso model which is flexible enough to adapt to different body shapes with ease will be reported.

Data compression of the ECG using neural network for digital Holter monitor.

A data-compression algorithm for digital Holter recording using artificial neural networks (ANNs) is described. A three-layer ANN that has a hidden layer with a few units is used to extract features of the ECG (electrocardiogram) waveform as a function of the activation levels of the hidden layer units. The number of output and input units is the same.

Application of the Karhunen-Loeve expansion to evaluate regional cardiac excitation in body surface potential maps.

The authors investigated the usefulness of the Karhunen-Loeve technique applied to body surface maps to study regional cardiac excitation. Eigenvectors were derived from the body surface potential maps of 120 healthy adults using the Karhunen-Loeve expansion theory. Then, in the maps of various types of ventricular hypertrophy, each eigenvector coefficient was calculated for a statistical comparison.

Difference in content ratio of components among horse serum transferrin variants.

Each of five genetic variants of horse serum transferrin (Tf), D, F, H, O, and R, was separated into two bands by polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing (PAGIEF). The more acidic band, termed component a, was more abundant than the other one, termed component b, in all variants. Components a and b of TFO variant were immunologically indistinguishable from each other by double immunodiffusion test.

[Changes and stability of the cant of occlusal plane following orthodontic treatment].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of the cant of occlusal plane during and after orthodontic treatment. Materials consisted of lateral roentgenocephalograms of 42 patients treated with full brackets system. Cephalograms were taken at following 4 stages; the beginning of orthodontic treatment, the beginning of retention, the end of mechanical retention and 3 years after the end of retention.

[Coagulation disorders during orthotopic liver transplantation].

Coagulation disorders have been noted during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) especially just after reperfusion of the grafted liver. This study was undertaken to clarify the coagulation disorders following reperfusion of the liver graft. OLT was carried out in adult mongrel dogs using a cuff technique.

Automatic reregistration for correction of localized misregistration artifacts in digital subtraction angiography of the head and neck.

A new automatic computer program, to remove misregistration artifacts secondary to motions such as rotation, contraction and relaxation of the body, has been developed. This program is called automatic reregistration and consists of determination of distortion vectors of corresponding segments of the mask and live images by detection of the peak value of two-dimensional cross correlation, followed by obtaining distortion vectors of other pixels through interpolation. Shift of the coordinate of the distorted live image is subtracted.

Concurrent and quantitative evaluation of neuronal activity and eye movement signals in behavioral experiments.

Using inexpensive integration circuits, a device was developed that can transform extracellularly recorded neuronal impulses into signals readily visible on polygraph charts. The device included also a frequency divider. The characteristics of the circuit are quantitatively evaluated.

On the stationarity and normality of the electroencephalographic data during sleep stages.

In this paper, we show techniques to examine the stationarity and the normality of time series as well as results obtained by applying these techniques to EEG data during sleep stages. Many statistical analyses of the EEG data are based on the assumption that the EEG data are stationary and normally distributed. However, the problem is to know the length of data which is most appropriate for the statistical analysis.

Stationarity and normality test for biomedical data.

Biomedical data, such as EEG, EMG and neural impulse sequences, are regarded as the stochastic phenomena of biological systems, and the statistical properties of such time series are often examined. Most of the statistical analysis processed in the frequency and the time domain are based on the assumption that the time series is weakly stationary and normally distributed. Therefore, as the basis of the statistical analysis of the biomedical data, it is necessary to know whether they satisfy the conditions of weak stationarity and normality.