Predictability of the neurodevelopmental assessment based on the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development 2001 at 18-24 months of corrected age and 3 years of age in identifying cognitive impairment at 6 years of age in very preterm infants: A retrospective study at a Japanese tertiary center.

Background: It is unknown how accurately the current Japanese classification system for neurodevelopmental delay based on the assessment with the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development (KSPD) at toddlerhood and pre-school periods predicts cognitive impairment at school age.

Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study enrolled infants born at 22-29 weeks of gestational age. At 18-24 months of corrected age and 3 years of age, the patients were categorized according to the current Japanese criteria for neurodevelopmental delay based on their overall developmental quotient calculated using the KSPD-2001.

Potential of mean force and umbrella sampling simulation for the transport of 5-oxazolidinone in heterotetrameric sarcosine oxidase.

The structure of heterotetrameric sarcosine oxidase (HSO) contains a highly complex system composed of a large cavity and tunnels, which are essential for the reaction and migration of the reactants, products, and intermediates. Previous geometrical analysis using the CAVER program has predicted that there are three possible tunnels, T1, T2, and T3, for the exit pathway of the iminium intermediate, 5-oxazolidinone (5-OXA), of the enzyme reaction. Previous molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of HSO has identified the regions containing the water channels from the density distribution of water.

CAPLIB: A New Program Library for the Modeling and Analysis of Icosahedrally Symmetric Viral Capsids.

A new program library named "CAPLIB" was developed for the modeling and analysis of icosahedrally symmetric virus capsids. CAPLIB is equipped with the mathematical data of 60 rotation matrices of icosahedral symmetry, 15 planes bisecting the entire capsid structure, and a table summarizing how the 60 asymmetric units (cells) are partitioned by the planes. CAPLIB contains the function to determine the cell numbers of atoms from the atomic positions and the function to determine the rotation axes and angles from the rotation matrices.

A Nitrogen-Saturated Plantation of and in Japan Is a Large Nonpoint Nitrogen Source.

Japanese cedar () and Japanese cypress () plantations account for approximately 30% of the total forested area in Japan. Both are arbuscular mycorrhizal trees that leach more NO in response to nitrogen (N) deposition than do forests of ectomycorrhizal trees. However, little information is available about the size of N exports from these plantations.

Conservative decrease in water potential in existing leaves during new leaf expansion in temperate and tropical evergreen Quercus species.

Background And Aims: This study aimed at clarifying how the water potential gradient (deltapsi) is maintained in the shoots of evergreen trees with expanding leaves, whose leaf water potentials at the turgor loss point (psi(tlp)) are generally high.

Materials: The water relations were examined in current-year expanding (CEX) and 1-year-old (OLD) leaves on the same shoots in temperate (Osaka, Japan) and tropical (Bogor, Indonesia) areas. A temperate evergreen species, Quercus glauca growing in both sites, was compared with a temperate deciduous species, Q.

The bulk elastic modulus and the reversible properties of cell walls in developing Quercus leaves.

We examined the relationship between the bulk elastic modulus (epsilon) of an individual leaf obtained by the pressure-volume (P-V) technique and the mechanical properties of cell walls in the leaf. The plants used were Quercus glauca and Q. serrata, an evergreen and a deciduous broad-leaved tree species, respectively.

Variations in transpiration rate and leaf cell turgor maintenance in saplings of deciduous broad-leaved tree species common in cool temperate forests in Japan.

To clarify mechanisms underlying variation in transpiration rate among deciduous broad-leaved tree species, we measured diurnal changes in stomatal conductance (gs) and leaf water potential, and calculated the maximum transpiration rate (Emax), leaf-specific hydraulic conductance (K(s-l)) and difference between the soil water potential and the daily minimum leaf water potential (Psis - Psi(l,min)). Pressure-volume (P-V) measurements were made on leaves. Saplings of eight broad-leaved tree species that are common in Japanese cool temperate forests were studied.