Gait improvement in stroke patients by Gait Exercise Assist Robot training is related to trunk verticality.

[Purpose] Various types of Gait Exercise Assist Robot (GEAR) have been developed recently, some of which have enabled early improvement in patients with stroke. However, none has yet resulted in independent walking in these patients. Hence, we conducted an exploratory study of the effect of GEAR on achieving independent walking in stroke patients. [Participants and Methods] The participants were 16 patients with severe stroke. We evaluated patients' ability to walk independently after GEAR training. The outcome measure was Stroke Impairment Assessment Set (SIAS) motor score (Hip Flexion, Knee Extension, Foot Pat, Abdominal and Verticality). Differences in five SIAS motor scores were compared between the independent and non-independent walking groups. [Results] There was statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of Verticality among the 5 SIAS items used in the present research . Verticality of SIAS score of 1 was the cut-off value for distinguishing walking independence. [Conclusion] Verticality of SIAS may be a marker of potential walking independence that can be used in rehabilitation plans using walking-assist robots in patients with stroke.

Rapid Solar Heating of Antimicrobial Ag and Cu2O Nanostructured Plasmonic Textile for Clean Water Production.

Solar steam generation is an attractive method to produce clean water, and high steam generation rates have been achieved using nanostructured light absorbers. However, since it usually takes minutes to reach the temperature for steady-state steam generation under solar illumination, a material that responds quickly to intermittent sunlight is strongly desired. Here, we report an unprecedented heating rate in an ultralight freestanding textile consisting of interconnected Ag and Cu2O nanoparticles. The textile demonstrated high solar absorption with low reflectance and transmittance, which were rationalized using our multiphysics simulations. A commercial polystyrene foam wrapped with this broadband light-absorbing textile showed the fastest response to sunlight together with a good steam generation rate compared to reported inorganic nanostructured steam generators. Furthermore, the textile exhibited antibacterial property, which might lower the risk of the vapor-induced transfer of bacteria during long-term intermittent use and the cost of subsequent water sanitization.

Visualizing Invisible Phase Transitions in Blue Phase Liquid Crystals Using Early Warning Indicators.

Changes in the statistical properties of data as a system approaches a critical transition is studied intensively as early warning signals, but their application to materials science, where phase transitions-a type of critical transition-are of fundamental importance, are limited. Here, a critical transition analysis is applied to time-series data from a microscopic 3D ordered soft material-blue phase liquid crystals (BPLC)-and demonstrates that phase transitions that are invisible under ambient conditions can be visualized through the choice of appropriate early warning indicators. After discussing how a phase transition affects the statistical properties in a system with a Landau-de Gennes type free energy potential, the predicted changes are experimentally observed at the two types of phase transitions that occur in a BPLC: the isotropic to simple cubic, and simple cubic to body-centered cubic transitions. In particular, it is shown that the skewness of the intensity distribution inverts its sign at the phase transition, enabling temporally and spatially resolved mapping of phase transitions. This approach can be easily adapted to a wide variety of material systems and microscopy techniques, providing a powerful tool for studying complex critical transition phenomena.

Graphene Quantum Dots: Molecularly Designed, Nitrogen-Functionalized Graphene Quantum Dots for Optoelectronic Devices (Adv. Mater. 23/2016).

H. Tetsuka and co-workers develop a versatile technique to tune the energy levels and energy gaps of nitrogen-functionalized graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) continuously through molecular structure design, as described on page 4632. The incorporation of layers of NGQDs into the structures markedly improves the performance of optoelectronic devices.

Molecularly Designed, Nitrogen-Functionalized Graphene Quantum Dots for Optoelectronic Devices.

Nitrogen-functionalized graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) with tailorable optical properties are prepared by a versatile technique, which allows the highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels and energy gaps to be continuously varied. The integration of NGQD layers into the structures significantly improves the performance of optoelectronic devices.

Flat grating lens utilizing widely variable transmission-phase via guided-modes.

We experimentally demonstrate a polarization-independent flat grating lens in the near-infrared region. The grating lens consists of ridges in the square lattice arrangement, and the ridge dimensions are gradually changed to distribute a phase map with focusing ability. It is well known that guided modes in gratings offer unity-reflection at a resonance, and therefore the transmission phase is widely varied around the resonance. We employ such transmission phase behavior and show that high transmittance is obtained in each unit cell for wide variation range of the transmission phase at the operation wavelength by sharpening the resonance. This enables us to accomplish a highly efficient transmissive grating lens.

[Case of primary malignant melanoma of the female urethra at age 94 : a case report].

A 94-year-old woman visited a local urological clinic in January 2011 complaining of dysuria and vulvar discomfort that lasted for a month. Clinical examination showed a hematoma-like tumor at the external urethral meatus. She refused an operation. After 2 months, the tumor became hemorrhagic and she was referred to our hospital for operation. A black tumor of fingertip-size was seen at the external urethral meatus. Urinary sediment examination and urine cytology revealed malignant melanoma cells. The tumor showed T1WI high intensity, and T2WI low intensity by magnetic resonance imaging. Collectively, the patient was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. The tumor was extirpated. Pathological diagnosis showed malignant nodular melanoma. However, additional therapy was not performed due to her age and thereafter, the patient was followed up carefully. After 3 months, right inguinal LN swelled, and tumor recurred at the external urethral meatus. She died from multiple metastases 11 months from the initial consultation. We herein report this case of primary malignant melanoma of the female urethra in an elderly patient.

Experimental investigation of double-groove grating satisfying total internal reflection condition.

We experimentally demonstrate a TiO(2) double-groove grating coupler with two different groove widths on a SiO(2) substrate in the visible region. Tolerance investigations based on Bloch-mode profiles in the grating and coupling strengths between the Bloch modes and diffraction orders reveal that the transmission performance is robust when one of the paired ridges is narrow enough (60 nm and less) considering a typical nanofabrication accuracy. Moreover, the ridge shape affects weakly the transmission performance due to the non-resonance operation of our dielectric device. Such tolerance investigations together with current nanofabrication technology enable us to accomplish a 70% efficiency for coupling the normal incident light into the + 1st order transmission diffraction satisfying the total internal reflection condition at a 640 nm wavelength of operation.

Tunable enhanced 0th-order transmission in a metal-dielectric hole array covered with a subwavelength liquid crystal layer.

We demonstrate tunable, enhanced 0th-order transmission through a metal-dielectric nanohole array device with a subwavelength-thick liquid crystal (LC) layer. The LC filled the nanoholes and formed a subwavelength covering layer, which is then capped by a top cover layer. The wavelength where the transmittance dip associated with the LC occurs is determined by the anisotropic refractive-index component of the LC, which is normal to the surface of the hole array. A low-refractive-index cover layer suppresses unwanted higher-order diffraction, which results in an enhancement of the 0th-order transmission, which is closely related to laterally propagating surface plasmon polaritons. The proposed design is expected to help realize tunable plasmonic devices with high optical transmittance.

Wavefront control by stacked metal-dielectric hole array with variable hole shapes.

A stacked metal-dielectric hole array (SHA) containing rectangular holes whose shape gradually varies in-plane is proposed as a means of achieving wavefront control. The dependence of the transmitted phase on the frequency can be tuned by the hole shape, in particular the length of the sides that are normal to the incident polarization. The combination of periodic holes along the polarization direction and the gradual change in hole shape normal to the polarization direction produce an inclined wavefront for 1-dimensional beam steering. An in-plane phase difference of 0.6π using an SHA with a thickness of one-sixth of the wavelength has been experimentally demonstrated.

Transmission phase control by stacked metal-dielectric hole array with two-dimensional geometric design.

Transmission phase control is experimentally demonstrated using stacked metal-dielectric hole arrays with a two-dimensional geometric design. The transmission phase varies drastically with small frequency shifts due to structural resonances. Laterally propagating surface plasmon polaritons excited by the periodic hole array roughly determine the resonance frequency, whereas localized resonances in each hole determine the dispersion. The transmission phase at various frequencies is directly evaluated using interferometric microscopy, and the formation of an inclined wavefront is demonstrated using a beam steering element in which the hole shapes gradually change in-plane from square to circular.

Prodan fluorescence detects the bilayer packing of asymmetric phospholipids.

The bilayer phase behavior of asymmetric phospholipids, palmitoylstearoylphosphatidylcholine (PSPC) and stearoylpalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (SPPC), with different vesicle sizes (large multilamellar vesicle (LMV) and giant multilamellar vesicle (GMV)) was investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy using a polarity-sensitive fluorescent probe Prodan under high pressure. The results were compared with those of a symmetric phospholipid, diheptadecanoyl PC (C17PC). The difference in phase transitions of the PSPC and SPPC bilayers and in thermodynamic quantities of the transitions was hardly observed between LMV and GMV as the case of the C17PC bilayer. On the other hand, the Prodan fluorescence showed clear differences between LMV and GMV of the asymmetric PC bilayers. From the second derivative of Prodan fluorescence spectra, the three dimensional image plots in which we can clearly see the location of Prodan in the bilayer membrane as blue valleys were constructed for LMV and GMV under high pressure. We revealed from the plots that the bilayer packing is significantly dependent on not only the vesicle size but also the acyl-chain asymmetry of PC molecule in addition to the phase states. It was found that the packing of the gel phases of the asymmetric PC bilayers is weaker than that of the symmetric PC bilayer, and the size of vesicle affects the packing of the interdigitated gel phase the most markedly among three gel phases. This study suggests that the Prodan molecules can detect the effect of vesicle size on the phase states for the asymmetric PC bilayers, and they become a useful indicator for various membrane properties, especially bilayer interdigitation.

UBXD1 is a VCP-interacting protein that is involved in ER-associated degradation.

AAA ATPase VCP and its yeast ortholog Cdc48, in a complex with the Ufd1-Npl4 heterodimer as an adaptor, play an essential role in endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD). Several UBX domain-containing proteins function to recruit ubiquitylated substrates to VCP/Cdc48 by binding both VCP/Cdc48 and other ERAD components such as ubiquitin ligases. Here we show that mammalian UBXD1 is an additional UBX domain-containing protein involved in the ERAD process. UBXD1 is a cytosolic protein that interacts with VCP and Derlin-1. Overexpression of UBXD1 in cells causes selective dissociation of Ufd1 from VCP, resulting in inhibition of mutant cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) degradation by ERAD. Additionally, depletion of endogenous UBXD1 protein by RNA interference also results in a defect in CFTR degradation. Collectively, these findings suggest that UBXD1 is a regulatory component of ERAD that may modulate the adaptor binding to VCP.

Simple process for fabricating a monolithic polymer optical waveguide.

A simple and economical fabrication process for a monolithic polymer optical waveguide in which different materials are serially grafted is proposed and demonstrated. A cladding layer with a waveguide core groove is fabricated by microtransfer molding. An epoxy resin solution is spin coated onto the cladding before selective photoexposure to form a transparent waveguide core. An optical functional polymer solution is then spin coated to form a serially grafted waveguide structure. Thus two types of polymer fill the groove to realize a monolithically integrated waveguide. Controlling the groove shape results in a flat surface. A low connection loss between the two polymers, less than 0.01 dB/point, is obtained.