Along with urbanization of the living environment, the number of patients with circadian rhythm sleep disorder (CRSD) has been increasing. There are several treatment candidates for CRSD, such as ...light therapy, drugs (melatonin and vitamin B12), and sleep hygiene education. However, successful treatment method has not been established. In free-running type (FRT) CRSD, the endogenous circadian rhythm cannot be entrained to the 24-h light-dark cycle, resulting in free running on a cycle 0.5-2.5 h longer than the 24-h period. This condition is relatively common in blind individuals and is unusual in sighted individuals. Here we report two sighted patients with FRT, successfully treated with a melatonin receptor agonist, ramelteon. Patient 1 (36-year-old female) had suffered from FRT for nearly 4 months after resigning her job. She was given sleep hygiene education together with ramelteon at first and the free-running cycle stopped after treatment day 15. Triazolam was added from the day 25 to promote earlier sleep onset. And the sleep-wake schedule was normalized by the day 34. Patient 2 (33-year-old male) had suffered from FRT for nearly 8 months after starting to take a leave of absence from his job. He was given sleep hygiene education and was treated with ramelteon and methylcobalamin. His sleep-wake schedule was normalized from the first treatment day. By the combined treatment with ramelteon, both patients have maintained favorable sleep-wake schedules. The agonist action of ramelteon at the melatonin 2 receptor may have primarily contributed to the cessation of the free-running cycle in these patients.
Authors developed a novel technique for preparing large-scale freestanding GaN wafers. Hydride VPE (HVPE) growth of thick GaN layer was performed on a GaN template with a thin TiN film on the top. ...After the cooling process of the HVPE growth, the thick GaN layer was easily separated from the template by the assistance of many voids generated around the TiN film. As a result, a freestanding GaN wafer was obtained. The wafer obtained had a diameter of 45 mm, and a mirror-like surface. The FWHM of (0002) and (10-10) peaks in the X-ray rocking curve profile were 60 and 92 arcsec, resp. The dislocation density was evaluated at 5x106 cm-3 by etch pit density measurement. 18 refs.
Ferromanganese crusts in the Pacific Ocean are potential economic resources of cobalt, nickel and platinum. Previous shipboard geological and geophysical exploration has been directed towards ...innovation in effective methods of mapping the abundance and grade of manganese nodules on the seafloor for evaluation and mine site selection. However, any simple techniques have not been valid for complicated and variable nature of the crusts and topography. This study attempts to establish a distribution pattern of ferromanganese deposits on a Micronesian seamount using conventional narrow-beam and SSS mapping, dredge sampling Cand TV/camera monitoring with a geological interpretation. We tried to correlate acoustic remote sensing data with the surface geology, and decipher the regional-scale distribution of crusts in relation to large-scale mass wasting that took place in the early Miocene or before. The general distribution pattern of crusts over the surface of the seamount indicates that only about 40% of the apparent "acoustic outcrop" represents actual ferromanganese crust coverage. The combined method outlined here is the most useful in evaluating ferromanganese deposits, prior to possible hi-tech fine-scale mapping using submersibles, ROV and AUV.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Our patient had secondary restless legs syndrome (RLS) in the left lower limb caused by end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Severe RLS symptoms persisted even after amputation of the affected limb. ...Considering that oral administration of a dopamine receptor agonist was effective in treating the RLS in the phantom limb in this case, dysfunction of the central dopaminergic system was thought to be involved in the phantom limb-RLS mechanism. The persistence of RLS symptoms even after amputation of the affected limb suggests that the area responsible for ESRD-related RLS symptoms exists at the spinal level or in the higher central nervous system.
Variations of 238U/235U ratio (δ238U) in sedimentary rocks have been proposed as a possible proxy for the paleo-oceanic redox conditions, although the marine δ238U system is not fully understood. ...Here we investigate the spatial variation of δ238U in modern ferromanganese (Fe–Mn) crusts by analyzing U isotopes in the surface (0–3mm depth) layer of 19 Fe–Mn crusts collected from 6 seamounts in the Pacific Ocean. δ238U values in the surface layers show little variation and range from −0.59‰ to −0.69‰. The uniformity of δ238U values is consistent with the long residence time of U in modern seawater, although the δ238U values are lighter than that of present-day seawater by ∼0.24‰. The light δ238U values are consistent with the isotope offset observed in previously reported adsorption experiment of U to Mn oxide. These results indicate that removal of U from seawater to Mn oxide is responsible for the second largest U isotope fractionation in the modern marine system, and could contribute to isotopically heavy U to seawater. Depth profiles of U isotopes (δ234U and δ238U) in two Fe–Mn crusts (MR12-03_D06–R01 and MC10_CB07_B), dated by Os isotope stratigraphy, were investigated to reconstruct the evolution of the oceanic redox state during the Cenozoic. The δ238U depth profiles show very limited ranges (−0.57‰ to −0.67‰ for MR12-03_D06–R01 and −0.56‰ to −0.69‰ for MC10_CB07_B), and have values that are similar to those of the surface layers of Fe–Mn crusts. The absence of any resolvable variation in the δ238U depth profiles may suggest that the relative amounts of oxic and reducing U sinks have not varied significantly over the past 45Myr. However, the δ234U depth profiles of the same samples show evidence for the possible redistribution of 234U after deposition. Therefore, the depth profile of δ238U in Fe–Mn crusts may have been also overprinted by later chemical exchange with pore-water or seawater, and may not reflect the paleo-oceanic environmental changes. To assess the potential role of U removal by Mn oxides on seawater δ238U, we calculated seawater δ238U with different U sink fluxes into Mn oxides using a simple mass balance model. The results of these calculations suggest that seawater δ238U could have varied significantly throughout Earth’s history due to changes in the accumulation rate of Mn oxides.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The aim of this study was to ascertain the clinical characteristics of drug-induced sleep-related eating disorder (SRED).
We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 30 patients with primary ...SRED (without any comorbid sleep disorders and who were not taking any possible causative medications), and ten patients with drug-induced SRED (occurrence of SRED episodes after starting nightly medication of sedative drugs, which completely resolved after dose reduction or discontinuation of the sedatives).
All patients with drug-induced SRED took multiple types of sedatives, such as benzodiazepines or benzodiazepine receptor agonists. Clinical features of drug-induced SRED compared with primary SRED were as follows: higher mean age of onset (40 years old in drug-induced SRED vs 26 years old in primary SRED), significantly higher rate of patients who had total amnesia during most of their SRED episodes (75.0% vs 31.8%), significantly lower rate of comorbidity of night eating syndrome (0% vs 63.3%), and significantly lower rate of history of sleepwalking (10.0% vs 46.7%). Increased doses of benzodiazepine receptor agonists may be responsible for drug-induced SRED.
The clinical features of drug-induced SRED were different from those of primary SRED, possibly reflecting differences in the underlying mechanisms between these two categories of SREDs.
X-ray-absorption near-edge structure (XANES) was successfully applied for the direct determination of Ce valence in hydrogenetic ferromanganese nodules (two samples) and crust (one sample). Rare ...earth element (REE) patterns of the hydrogenetic ferromanganese nodules and crust recovered from the Pacific Ocean show large positive Ce anomalies, especially when normalized to seawater. Despite some disadvantages in the spectroscopic analysis of Ce in natural samples (e.g., low concentration and interference from other elements), intense synchrotron radiation and measurement of fluorescent XANES with semiconductor detectors having high energy resolution enabled us to detect XANES at Ce L
III edge in the ferromanganese nodule or crust. In the XANES spectra of the nodule or crust, large double peaks were observed, showing that the oxidation state of Ce in the nodule or crust is predominantly tetravalent with little contribution from Ce(III). This is the first in-situ quantitative analysis of Ce(IV) among total Ce in natural samples as a trace element as far as we know. The results obtained by XANES seem to be consistent with the percentage of Ce(IV) estimated from seawater-normalized REE patterns, suggesting that seawater is a precursor of REE in the marine deposits. The present results also confirm that Ce enrichment relative to other REEs in hydrogenetic ferromanganese deposits is due to oxidative removal of Ce from seawater to the ferromanganese nodules and crust in the marine environment. Comparison of XANES spectra of Ce sorbed on synthetic manganese oxide and CeO
2 vs. those of the ferromanganese nodules and crust suggests that the initial reaction of Ce with the ferromanganese nodules and crust is the sorption of dissolved Ce(III) to the manganese oxide surface.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
A freestanding
m-plane GaN wafer is fabricated by using the hydride vapor-phase epitaxy (HVPE) technique on an aluminum carbide buffer layer on an
m-plane sapphire substrate. X-ray pole-figure ...measurements show a clear
m-plane orientation of the GaN surface. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of GaN (1
1¯
0
0) X-ray rocking curve (XRC) with the scattering vector along the 1
1
2¯
0 direction is approximately 800
arcsec; this indicates good crystallinity. On the other hand, the FWHM for the case in which the scattering vector is oriented along the 0
0
0
1 direction is broad; this suggests the influence of structural defects along this direction. In fact, basal plane stacking faults (BSF) with a density of approximately 3×10
5
cm
−1 is observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The preparation of a 45-mm-diameter
m-plane GaN wafer due to spontaneous separation of the GaN layer from the sapphire substrate is demonstrated.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts are widespread on the floor of the northwestern Pacific Ocean, south and east of the Japanese Islands, despite vigorous tectonic activity, such as subduction and ...back‐arc spreading, since at least the Mid‐Paleogene over the Philippine Sea Plate region and nearby. The crusts occur mainly at water depths shallower than 3000 m, but also at greater depths of up to 6000 m. Fine‐scale 10Be/9Be dating was undertaken on several 5–10 cm thick hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts sampled from different geological environments, including inactive submarine volcanoes, tectonic escarpments and abandoned rifts. The results indicate that the crusts have grown at relatively constant rates of 4–7 mm/my without any significant time breaks. These uniform and constant growth rates suggest that the basins have been exposed constantly to oxygenated bottom waters since their formation in the Middle Miocene (ca 15 Ma) or earlier. Local geological or oceanographic environmental changes might have slowed or increased some of the growth rates resulting in correlation of some internal structures. The Philippine Sea Plate region could have economic potential in areas of thick hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts over a wide range of water depths.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
We evaluated the impact of migraine and restless legs syndrome (RLS) comorbidity on sleep and mood using two different clinical settings (Study 1, 33 RLS patients from a multicenter study; Study 2, ...262 active migraine patients from a single-center study). Although the presence of migraine in RLS patients was not correlated with sleep problems or depressive symptoms (Study 1), the presence of RLS in active migraine patients was associated with poor sleep quality, daytime sleepiness and depressive symptoms (Study 2). RLS is an important comorbidity associated with active migraine; however, the clinical setting in particular may influence the RLS–migraine association.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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