Optimization of Temperature Modulation for Gas Classification Based on Bayesian Optimization.

This study proposes an optimization method for temperature modulation in chemiresistor-type gas sensors based on Bayesian optimization (BO), and its applicability was investigated. As voltage for a sensor heater, our previously proposed waveform was employed, and the parameters determining the voltage range were optimized. Employing the Bouldin-Davies index (DBI) as an objective function (OBJ), BO was utilized to minimize the DBI calculated from a feature matrix built from the collected data followed by pre-processing. The sensor responses were measured using five test gases with five concentrations, amounting to 2500 data points per parameter set. After seven trials with four initial parameter sets (ten parameter sets were tested in total), the DBI was successfully reduced from 2.1 to 1.5. The classification accuracy for the test gases based on the support vector machine tends to increase with decreasing the DBI, indicating that the DBI acts as a good OBJ. Additionally, the accuracy itself increased from 85.4% to 93.2% through optimization. The deviation from the tendency that the accuracy increases with decreasing the DBI for some parameter sets was also discussed. Consequently, it was demonstrated that the proposed optimization method based on BO is promising for temperature modulation.

Dynamics of Interaction among Professionals, Informal Supporters, and Family Caregivers of People with Dementia along the Dementia Care Pathway: A Nationwide Survey in Japan.

This study aims to clarify the dynamics of information provision and human interaction to satisfy the needs of family caregivers. A questionnaire survey consisting of items on information received at and after diagnosis, persons and resources consulted, needs, and caregiver-oriented outcomes was conducted. Among the respondents, 2295 individuals who were caring for people with dementia were divided into quartiles by the time after diagnosis, and differences were statistically analyzed. The time after diagnosis in the first to fourth quartiles was 0.73 ± 0.4, 2.52 ± 0.49, 4.89 ± 0.73, and 10.82 ± 3.7 years, respectively. The number of persons consulted by family caregivers increased significantly from the first to the fourth quartiles (p < 0.001). During this time, attributes of professionals and informal supporters changed depending on the quartile. As time progressed, acceptance of the diagnosis increased, but so did its impact on the lives of family caregivers. These findings revealed differences over time in what family caregivers wanted and the dynamics of interactions that filled their needs. Informal supporters accounted for a significant proportion of the total resources. However, many family caregivers thought the information and support were insufficient. Thus, continuous reform of the care pathway is needed.

Dietary vitamin E deficiency increases anxiety-like behavior in juvenile and adult rats.

Vitamin E deficiency from birth or infancy has recently been found to increase anxiety-like behavior in rodents. The present study was undertaken to elucidate the effect of dietary vitamin E deficiency on anxiety in adult rats in comparison with juvenile rats. Male Wistar rats, 3 or 10 weeks old, were divided into two groups and fed a control or vitamin E-deficient diet for 4 weeks. The results of behavioral analysis revealed that vitamin E-deficiency increased anxiety in both juvenile and adult rats. Plasma, liver, and brain α-tocopherol concentrations decreased significantly due to vitamin E deficiency in both age groups. Plasma corticosterone concentrations were higher in the vitamin E-deficient rats in response to the stress of a behavioral test. Based on these results, we conclude that dietary vitamin-E deficiency induces anxiety in adult rats as well as juvenile rats. This might be due to an elevated plasma corticosterone concentration.

Dietary vitamin E deficiency increases anxiety-related behavior in rats under stress of social isolation.

It has been demonstrated that vitamin E deficiency from birth increases anxiety-related behavior using knockout animals with no vitamin E transfer proteins. The current study was undertaken to elucidate the effect of dietary vitamin E deficiency on anxiety-related behavior of rats in different housing conditions. Male Wistar strain rats were divided into two groups during the weaning period and fed a control or vitamin E-deficient diet. All rats were housed in groups (three rats per cage) for 3 weeks. In the fourth week, half of the rats in each dietary treatment were kept in social housing and the other half were kept in individual housing. Before sacrifice, rota-rod and elevated plus-maze (EPM) tests were performed to measure motor coordination and anxiety, respectively. The EPM test revealed that vitamin E-deficient rats spent less time in the open arms and showed more stretch-out posture than the control rats, showing that anxiety increased with dietary vitamin E deficiency. Furthermore, vitamin E deficiency-induced anxiety behavior was observed more prominent in individual housed rats than in social housed rats. On the basis of these results, we conclude that dietary vitamin E deficiency induces anxiety in rats especially under stress of social isolation.