Bodily pain, social support, depression symptoms and stroke history are independently associated with sleep disturbance among the elderly: a cross-sectional analysis of the Fujiwara-kyo study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate independent effects of various factors associated with sleep disturbance among community-dwelling elderly individuals. METHODS: We analyzed data obtained from 3732 individuals aged ≥65 years who responded to a self-administered questionnaire and participated in a structured interview which assessed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), subjective bodily pain, the Jichi Medical School Social Support Scale, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), health status, and demographic characteristics. Sleep disturbance was defined as a global PSQI score >5.5, which was used as a dependent variable in multiple logistic regression analysis to determine adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) of related factors. RESULTS: We identified a significant increase in the adjusted ORs for female (OR 1.56, 95 % CI 1.34-1.83), age ≥80 years (1.31, 1.01-1.69), history of stroke (1.44, 1.08-1.92), and a GDS-15 score ≥6 as compared to 0-2 (2.29, 1.86-2.81), with regard to sleep disturbance. Participants with severe or very severe bodily pain had the highest adjusted OR (3.00, 2.15-4.19), and those with very mild bodily pain also had a relatively high OR (1.30, 1.06-1.60), relative to those without subjective bodily pain. In addition, compared with participants with strong social support from spouse or family, those with weak social support had significantly increased adjusted ORs (1.21, 1.01-1.44, 1.44, 1.23-1.70, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The present study indicates that sleeping disturbances among the elderly are closely associated with social support from a spouse and family. They are also associated with pain, even at stages in which subjective bodily pain is very mild.

Enhanced photocarrier generation in large-scale photonic nanostructures fabricated from vertically aligned quantum dots.

We demonstrate enhanced photocarrier generation using photonic nanostructures fabricated by a wet etching technique with vertically aligned quantum dots (QDs). Using photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, we found that the photocarrier generation in Ge/Si QDs placed close to the surface is enhanced below the band gap energy of crystalline silicon. The enhancement is explained by light trapping owing to the photonic nanostructures. Electromagnetic wave simulations indicate that the photonic nanostructure with a subwavelength size will be available to light trapping for efficient photocarrier generation by increasing their dip depth.

Enhanced photocarrier generation in large-scale photonic nanostructures fabricated from vertically aligned quantum dots.

We demonstrate enhanced photocarrier generation using photonic nanostructures fabricated by a wet etching technique with vertically aligned quantum dots (QDs). Using photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, we found that the photocarrier generation in Ge/Si QDs placed close to the surface is enhanced below the band gap energy of crystalline silicon. The enhancement is explained by light trapping owing to the photonic nanostructures. Electromagnetic wave simulations indicate that the photonic nanostructure with a subwavelength size will be available to light trapping for efficient photocarrier generation by increasing their dip depth.

Construction of asymmetric cell-sized lipid vesicles from lipid-coated water-in-oil microdroplets.

We present a simple, rapid, and robust method for preparing asymmetric cell-sized lipid bilayer vesicles using water-in-oil (W/O) microdroplets transferred through an oil-water interface. The efficiency for producing cell-sized model membranes is elucidated in relation to the vesicular size and the weight of contained water-soluble molecules. We demonstrate the biological asymmetric nature and the formation of lipid raft microdomain structures using fluorescence microscopy.

Sugar Chips immobilized with synthetic sulfated disaccharides of heparin/heparan sulfate partial structure.

Carbohydrate chip technology has a great potential for the high-throughput evaluation of carbohydrate-protein interactions. Herein, we report syntheses of novel sulfated oligosaccharides possessing heparin and heparan sulfate partial disaccharide structures, their immobilization on gold-coated chips to prepare array-type Sugar Chips, and evaluation of binding potencies of proteins by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging technology. Sulfated oligosaccharides were efficiently synthesized from glucosamine and uronic acid moieties. Synthesized sulfated oligosaccharides were then easily immobilized on gold-coated chips using previously reported methods. The effectiveness of this analytical method was confirmed in binding experiments between the chips and heparin binding proteins, fibronectin and recombinant human von Willebrand factor A1 domain (rh-vWf-A1), where specific partial structures of heparin or heparan sulfate responsible for binding were identified.

One-step purification of lectins from banana pulp using sugar-immobilized gold nano-particles.

To obtain lectins without tedious purification steps, we developed a convenient method for a one-step purification of lectins using sugar-immobilized gold nano-particles (SGNPs). Proteins in crude extracts from plant materials were precipitated with 60% ammonium sulphate, and the precipitate was re-dissolved in a small volume of phosphate buffer. The resultant solution was then mixed with appropriate SGNPs under an optimized condition. After incubating overnight at 4 degrees C, lectins in the mixture formed aggregate with SGNPs, which was visually detected and easily sedimented by centrifugation. The aggregate was dissolved by adding inhibitory sugars, which were identical to the non-reducing sugar moieties on the SGNPs. According to SDS-PAGE and MS of thus obtained proteins, it was found that SGNPs isolated lectins with a high purity. For example, a protein isolated from banana using Glcalpha-GNP (alpha-glucose-immobilized gold nano-particle) was identified as banana lectin by trypsin-digested peptide-MS finger printing method.