Abstract The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between dental occlusion and physical fitness by a longitudinal survey. A sample of 348 subjects (171 men and 177 women) aged 71 was ...investigated by Eichner index (EI) as an occlusal condition (Class A: no loss; Class B: partial loss; Class C: complete loss) and five types of physical fitness tests and were re-examined 8 years later. The upper 50% were sampled to analyze the correlation between each physical fitness decline and the EI at the baseline by logistic regression models. Logistic regression analyses revealed that leg extensor power (Class B vs. Class A; odds ratio = OR = 4.61, p = 0.010) and one-leg standing time with eyes open (Class C vs. Class A; OR = 4.27, p = 0.031) showed significant correlations with the EI at the baseline. In this study, partial or complete loss of occlusion was associated with a decline in leg extensor power or a decrease in one-leg standing time with eyes open. These findings suggest that maintenance of dental occlusion may prevent a decrease in activities of daily living in the elderly.
Tracking refers to the tendency for an individual to maintain their rank within a group over time. This study longitudinally investigated the 8-year tracking of pedometer-determined physical activity ...among physically independent elderly Japanese people aged 72 to 80 years.
Steps/day were measured when participants were aged 72 and assessed again after 2, 5, and 8 years. The number of participants with a 2-year follow-up (72 to 74 years) was 177 (101 males, 76 females), with a 5-year follow-up (72 to 77 years) was 183 people (110 males, 73 females), and with an 8-year follow-up (72 to 80 years) was 145 people (91 males, 54 females). Step counts were continuously measured for 1 week in January, April, July, and October during each year of assessment.
A high rank correlation coefficient for steps/day exceeding 0.60 was obtained at the 2-, 5- and 8-year follow-up examinations for both males and females.
This study suggests that the rank within a group of pedometer-determined steps/day remains stable over up to 8 years in healthy Japanese people aged between 72 to 80 years old.
Background and aims
: Poor physical performance is known to be inversely related to mortality. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether an association between physical performance ...and 10-year mortality could be extended to a Japanese 70-year-old community-dwelling population, and to compare findings with those found in an octogenarian population.
Methods
: Seventy- year-old subjects residing in Niigata city, Japan, participated. Baseline examinations, including a physical performance test of four tests of muscle strength, one test of balance, and one test of agility, were carried out in June 1998 for 600 participants, and these individuals were then followed for 10 years.
Results
: During the 10-year follow up, 80 subjects died. Cox regression analysis with adjustment for confounding factors showed that high scores in muscle strength tests for lower extremities, such as single-leg and double-leg extensor strength and isokinetic leg extensor power, were found to be related to decreases in total cause mortality.
Conclusions
: In an elderly 70-year-old Japanese community-dwelling population, poor muscle strength was found to be an independent predictor of total mortality. Together with our previous findings in an 80-year-old population, the association between poor strength and high mortality may have effects at 70 but not 80 years of age.
We propose a simple technique based on optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) for measuring the cutoff wavelength and core radius distributions in a pure silica core fiber for the first time. The ...proposed technique can simultaneously measure several important fiber parameters such as the mode field diameter, relative-index difference, effective area, and chromatic dispersion, including the cutoff wavelength and core radius. We experimentally demonstrate that our proposed technique can successfully evaluate these fiber parameter distributions and can be applied for the measurements of few-mode and multi-core fibers with pure silica cores using multi-channel OTDR and mode couplers.
We propose two mode optical fibers (TMFs) with minimally low differential modal delay (DMD) slope which are suitable for wavelength division multiplexing and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) ...combined transmission system. We designed and fabricated three different kinds of TMF, nearly zero-DMD (zTMF), positive-DMD (pTMF) and negative-DMD (nTMF) with a graded index core and a depressed inner cladding. We confirmed that the fabricated zTMF has DMD of below 15 ps/km in the C band and the fabricated pTMF and nTMF have the same degree of effective areas. We also confirmed that a DMD compensation line with a length of 100 km composed of pTMF and nTMF can successfully achieve the best properties of low DMD in the C + L band and low mode conversion.
We proposed a stochastic (or statistical) Equivalent linearization - Gaussian Sum Filter(: EqGSFilter) for discrete time nonlinear Systems. Subsequently, in this paper, we investigate and showthe ...further results related to the EqGS Filter. Especially we discuss a method to apply Gauss-Hermite quadrature rules for evaluation of the conditional expected values of the quantities requiredto design the EqGS filter. Finally, we show the estimation results of AR modeling comparison withthe extended Kalman and the equivalent linearization filters.
In this paper, we propose methods of detecting Doppler outliers which cause positioning errors at Doppler-aided GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) positioning, and correcting the errors. We ...apply the existing detection method based on the innovation process in Kalman filtering to Doppler outlier problems, and we propose a novel detection method based on the measurements by the difference between C/A code pseudoranges and Doppler shift range-rates. Both methods are based on chi-squared tests. We apply two correction methods which are Doppler bias exclusion,or the estimation for detected anomalies. The efficient detection of anomalous observables can be developed to RAIM (Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring), and useful to achieve higher accuracy positioning for increasing satellite signals by multi-frequencies and multi-GNSSs. Doppler shift observables are utilized on a priority basis even in urban areas because of immunity to cycleslip and continuous availability, however unexpected Doppler outliers prone to cause positioning errors. The experimental results of positioning by using real receiver data show the feasibility of the proposed detection and correction methods.
In this paper, the multi-layer ionospheric model based regional VTEC (Vertical Total Electron Content) estimation methods applied by GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Regressive models ...(abbreviated as GR models) are presented. In the methods, the SCHA (Spherical Cap Harmonic Analysis) as well as the SHF (Spherical Harmonic Functions) are also applied to model the regional VTEC distributions. The ionospheric delays (or advances) over Japan are estimated by using GEONET (Gps Earth Observation NETwork) data provided from the GSI (Geospatial Information Authority of Japan). By applying the ionospheric correction based on the multi-layer model, the positioning accuracy can be improved, and consequently the regional ionosphere can be modeled more accurately by the multi-layer model.
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