Investigating the link between temperamental and motor development: a longitudinal study of infants aged 6-42 months.

BACKGROUND: Since the 1920s, motor development has been a strong research theme, focusing on infants' acquisition of motor skills, such as turning over and crawling. In the 1980s, a dynamic systems approach began emphasizing children's own motivation, which helped explain individual differences in the emergence of motor skills. However, few studies have examined factors contributing to individual differences in early motor development. In response, we investigated directional associations between temperament and motor development in children aged 6 months to 3 years. METHOD: The Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS-A) recruited mothers between January 2011 and March 2014. 2,639 mothers were sent a questionnaire at 6 months, and responses were received from 1,657 of them, with full data for children aged 6 months, 2 years, and 3 years, including from three mothers of twins, were analyzed through structural equation modeling. Question items regarding fine and gross motor activities at each age were selected by pediatric neurologists specializing in developmental disorders. The Japanese version of the Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire was administered at 42 months. Temperament was assessed through the parent-reported Behavior Questionnaire (short version) for infants, toddlers, and children. In all three measures, Surgency and Negative Affectivity were extracted, and Effortful Control, a major form of self-regulation, was found from toddlerhood onward, as in previous studies. RESULTS: A path diagram reveals that at 6 months, Surgency and Orienting/Regulation interacted positively with the motor function (respectively, r = .57; r = 40, ps < .001). Up to about 3 years, Effortful Control plays a role in facilitating the motor function, resulting in positive effects on Control During Movement (CDM), General Coordination (GC), and Fine Motor Movement (FMM) (ß = 14; ß = 30; ß = 37, ps < .001). Surgency had a positive effect on CDM and GC (ß = 18; ß = 06, ps < .001), whereas Negative Affect had a negative influence on FMM and GC (ß = -.08; ß = -.08, ps < .001). CONCLUSION: While Surgency may be a key reactive factor in early motor development, Effortful Control and Movement develop in an interactive manner. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN000030786. Scientific Title: The Japan Environment and Children's Study. Date of disclosure of the study: 2018/01/15. Only questionnaires were administered in the study.

Bipolar transverse thermopower and low thermal conductivity for an anomalous Nernst-type heat flux sensor in GdCo alloys.

A Heat Flux Sensor (HFS) facilitates the visualization of heat flow, unlike a temperature sensor, and is anticipated to be a key technology in managing waste heat. Recently, an HFS utilizing the Anomalous Nernst Effect (ANE) has been proposed garnering significant interest in enhancing the transverse thermopower. However, ideal materials for HFS not only require a large transverse thermopower but also meet several criteria including low thermal conductivity and a bipolar nature of the transverse thermopower, especially a negative transverse thermopower. In this study, we have investigated ANE in amorphous ferrimagnetic GdCo alloys, revealing their numerous advantages as HFS materials. These include a large bipolar transverse thermopower, extremely low thermal conductivity, large negative sensitivity, versatility for deposition on various substrates, and a small longitudinal thermopower. These qualities position GdCo films as promising candidates for the advancement of HFS technology.

Risk factors of periprosthetic joint infection after hemiarthroplasty for displaced femoral neck fracture in the elderly: Analysis of 1619 cases in the multicenter database.

PURPOSE: This multicenter retrospective study focuses on understanding the incidence, causative bacteria, and risk factors for Periprosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) following hemiarthroplasty in elderly patients with displaced femoral neck fractures (FNF). METHODS: From 2016 to 2020, 1,619 patients were diagnosed with displaced FNFs and treated surgically across 11 centers. After exclusions, 1,438 patients (399 men and 1,039 women) were included in the study, averaging 82.1 years in age and 20.2 kg/m² in BMI, observed over 25.7 months on average. Data on demographics, medical history, surgical details, and complications were described. RESULTS: PJI occurred in 20 of the 1438 patients (1.4%). The causative organism was methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus in 6 patients and methicillin-resistant S. aureus in 6 patients. In patients' backgrounds, the average age was slightly higher in the non-PJI group (82.1 years) compared to the PJI group (80.4 years). There was a higher percentage of males in the PJI group (45%) than in the non-PJI group (27.5%). Drug history showed that the prevalence of anticoagulant use in the PJI group was 25%. Peripheral vascular disease and diabetes mellitus were more prevalent in the PJI group. Most patients in both groups were independent in daily activities. The blood transfusion rate was significantly higher in the PJI group (50%) than in the non-PJI group (23.8%). Notably, the incidence of hematoma was higher in the PJI group (40%). CONCLUSION: This multicenter retrospective study demonstrates a low incidence (1.4%) of PJI in elderly patients undergoing hemiarthroplasty for FNF, primarily due to Staphylococcus aureus. Increased usage of antiplatelets and anticoagulants, as well as comorbidities related to atherosclerosis, like peripheral vascular disease and diabetes mellitus, were observed in patients with PJI. Additionally, these patients experienced higher rates of blood transfusion and postoperative hematomas, highlighting the need for careful management. It should be noted, however, that this finding is a conclusion limited by study design issues, including the retrospective design, small PJI sample size, and variability in treatment approaches.

Psychometrics of rating scales for externalizing disorders in Japanese outpatients: The ADHD-Rating Scale-5 and the Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale.

OBJECTIVES: This study validated the Japanese version of the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-Rating Scale-5 (ADHD-RS-5) and the Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale. We extended the ADHD-RS-5 by adding the oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder subscales to compare the two rating scales psychometrically. METHODS: We examined the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity and criterion validity of the two rating scales in 135 Japanese outpatients aged 6-18 years. RESULTS: The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were good for all the subscales of the two rating scales except for the conduct disorder subscale of the ADHD-RS-5 extended. Good construct validity was revealed by expected correlational patterns between subscales from the two rating scales and the Children Behavior Checklist. The criterion validity was good for all the subscales of the two rating scales rated by parents, while teacher-ratings revealed substantially lower predictive ability for all the subscales. Agreement between parent- and teacher-ratings of the two rating scales was generally moderate and using predictive ratings alone of both ratings showed the best predictive ability among the integration methods examined. CONCLUSION: The two rating scales have sound psychometric properties and will aid in screening and severity assessment of externalizing disorders in Japanese clinical settings.

Magneto-optical diffractive deep neural network.

We propose a magneto-optical diffractive deep neural network (MO-D2NN). We simulated several MO-D2NNs, each of which consists of five hidden layers made of a magnetic material that contains 100 × 100 magnetic domains with a domain width of 1 µm and an interlayer distance of 0.7 mm. The networks demonstrate a classification accuracy of > 90% for the MNIST dataset when light intensity is used as the classification measure. Moreover, an accuracy of > 80% is obtained even for a small Faraday rotation angle of π/100 rad when the angle of polarization is used as the classification measure. The MO-D2NN allows the hidden layers to be rewritten, which is not possible with previous implementations of D2NNs.

Practical applications of brief screening questionnaires for autism spectrum disorder in a psychiatry outpatient setting.

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to examine the diagnostic performance of the social and communication disorders checklist (SCDC) and strength and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) to detect autism spectrum conditions (ASC), along with the social responsiveness scale-second edition (SRS-2) as reference, in a psychiatry outpatient setting. METHODS: We translated the SCDC into Japanese since its Japanese version was unavailable. We examined its test-retest reliability as well as the internal consistency reliability and diagnostic performance of the three questionnaires among 41 Japanese psychiatric outpatients, using the best-estimate diagnosis of ASC based on the diagnostic interview for social and communication disorders, as a gold standard. RESULTS: The test-retest reliability was high for the SCDC. Although the internal consistency reliability was high for the SCDC and SRS-2, that was low for the prosocial and peer problem subscales of the SDQ. The performance of the SCDC, SDQ, and SRS-2 to detect ASC was moderate: the area under the ROC curve of 0.78, 0.78, and 0.84, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Although questionnaires to detect ASC, including the three examined, generally have only moderate performance in this setting, these can be successfully applied to high-risk populations such as psychiatry outpatients, when multi-level rather than dichotomous likelihood ratios are used.

The Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) for DSM-5: A validation for neurodevelopmental disorders in Japanese outpatients.

OBJECTIVE: The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime version (K-SADS-PL) is a widely used semi-structured diagnostic interview in child and adolescent psychiatry. However, given the extensive use of the K-SADS-PL in clinical practice and research and its adaptation for use in many languages and cultures, validation studies of the instrument are scarce. This study was designed to examine the inter-rater reliability, criterion validity and construct validity of the updated instrument, the K-SADS-PL for DSM-5, in Japanese outpatients totaling 95 children and adolescents. METHOD: We translated and adapted the updated instrument into Japanese using a standard forward-backward translation procedure. Two of nine experienced clinicians independently made diagnoses using the interview for each patient in a conjoint session. Discrepancies in diagnosis between two clinicians were resolved by consensus, and the consensus diagnosis was compared with a "best-estimate" diagnosis made by five experienced clinicians using all available data sources for patients who were blinded to the diagnosis using the K-SADS-PL for DSM-5. The "best-estimate" diagnosis of ASD was also based on the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders. RESULTS: The inter-rater reliability was very good, as shown by κ ≥ 0.8 for all disorders examined: autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, tic disorders, selective mutism, enuresis and encopresis. The criterion validity was good, as shown by κ ≥ 0.6 for all disorders examined, except for ASD (κ = 0.59). This study also revealed good construct validity of the instrument by confirming the expected associations with each scale from the Social Responsiveness Scale-2nd edition and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the K-SADS-PL for DSM-5 generates valid diagnoses in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Interference induced enhancement of magneto-optical Kerr effect in ultrathin magnetic films.

We have studied the magneto-optical spectra of ultrathin magnetic films deposited on Si substrates coated with an oxide layer (SiOx). We find that the Kerr rotation angle and the ellipticity of ~1 nm thick CoFeB thin films, almost transparent to visible light, show a strong dependence on the thickness of the SiOx layer. The Kerr signal from the 1 nm CoFeB thin film can be larger than that of ~100 nm thick CoFeB films for a given SiOx thickness and light wavelength. The enhancement of the Kerr signal occurs when optical interference takes place within the SiOx layer. Interestingly, under such resonance condition, the measured Kerr signal is in some cases larger than the estimation despite the good agreement of the measured and calculated reflection amplitude. We infer the discrepancy originates from interface states that are distinct from the bulk characteristics. These results show that optical interference effect can be utilized to study the magneto-optical properties of ultrathin films.

Carrier generation and electronic properties of a single-component pure organic metal.

Metallic conduction generally requires high carrier concentration and wide bandwidth derived from strong orbital interaction between atoms or molecules. These requisites are especially important in organic compounds because a molecule is fundamentally an insulator; only multi-component salts with strong intermolecular interaction-namely, only charge transfer complexes and conducting polymers-have demonstrated intrinsic metallic behaviour. Herein we report a single-component electroactive molecule, zwitterionic tetrathiafulvalene(TTF)-extended dicarboxylate radical (TED), exhibiting metallic conduction even at low temperatures. TED exhibits d.c. conductivities of 530 S cm-1 at 300 K and 1,000 S cm-1 at 50 K with copper-like electronic properties. Spectroscopic and theoretical investigations of the carrier-generation mechanism and the electronic states of this single molecular species reveal a unique electronic structure with a spin-density gradient in the extended TTF moieties that becomes, in itself, a metallic state.

Conductive poly(2,5-substituted aniline)s highly soluble both in water and organic solvents.

Highly soluble conductive polyanilines were synthesized from newly designed aniline derivatives: 2,5-bis(2-methoxyethoxy)aniline (2) and 2,5-bis[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]aniline (3). The corresponding polyanilines, P2 and P3, were characterized by means of fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopies. The electrical conductivities at room temperature of emeraldine salt forms of P2 (P2-ES) and P3 (P3-ES) were evaluated to be sigma(rt) = 2.4 x 10(-3) and 1.7 x 10(-3) S/cm, respectively. The length of ethylene-1,2-dioxy chains on the polyaniline scarcely affected the electronic conductivity. A simple modification at 2,5-positions of aniline by introducing 1,2-ethlenedioxy groups dramatically altered the solubility of polyanilines in common organic solvents and water (400 g/L for P3-ES).

A stable metallic state of (TTPCOO)2NH4 with a mobile dopant.

Ammonium tetrathiapentalene carboxylate [(TTPCOO)2NH4] was prepared via protonic defect-induction doping without electrochemical oxidation. The high electric conductivity of 13 S cm(-1) and Pauli paramagnetic-like behavior of magnetic susceptibility in a wide temperature range exhibit a melting of the charge degrees of freedom induced by a mobile dopant in a salt bridge. Solid-state (1)H NMR strongly indicates a stable metallic state of this compound down to 4 K.

Comprehensive comparison of self-administered questionnaires for measuring quantitative autistic traits in adults.

We comprehensively compared all available questionnaires for measuring quantitative autistic traits (QATs) in terms of reliability and construct validity in 3,147 non-clinical and 60 clinical subjects with normal intelligence. We examined four full-length forms, the Subthreshold Autism Trait Questionnaire (SATQ), the Broader Autism Phenotype Questionnaire, the Social Responsiveness Scale2-Adult Self report (SRS2-AS), and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). The SRS2-AS and the AQ each had several short forms that we also examined, bringing the total to 11 forms. Though all QAT questionnaires showed acceptable levels of test-retest reliability, the AQ and SRS2-AS, including their short forms, exhibited poor internal consistency and discriminant validity, respectively. The SATQ excelled in terms of classical test theory and due to its short length.

Ionic semiconductor: DC and AC conductivity of anilinium tetrathiafulvalene-2-carboxylate.

A single crystal of anilinium tetrathiafulvalene-2-carboxylate exhibits a characteristic electrical conduction; it is a semiconductor with activation-type transport above 200 K; σ(rt) = 0.16 S cm(-1) with an activation energy of 0.11 eV. On the other hand, below 200 K, it does not obey the Arrhenius relation but is conductive even at 4 K with 2.1 × 10(-4) S cm(-1) at a frequency of 2 MHz. Its behavior exhibits strong frequency dependence and suggests a particular conduction coupled with dielectric relaxation, reflecting its ionic nature. The crystal structure of the salt shows that conducting molecules are assembled supramolecularly with multiple nonbonding interactions, such as the hydrogen bond, and the π/π and CH/π interactions. The hydrogen bond and CH/π interactions have a short bond length, which is similar to the charge-assisted-type interaction observed in organometallics.

Major contribution of dominant inheritance to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in population-based families.

Results of twin studies have shown that autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are attributable to complex multigenic interactions rather than to a single susceptibility gene. However, the growing number of distinct, individually rare genetic causes of ASDs, mostly copy number variations (CNVs), favors an alternative to the polygenic hypothesis, the two-component model, which suggests that ASDs are caused either by de novo mutation or by dominant inheritance from asymptomatic carriers of such a mutation. To verify this hypothesis, we estimated the distribution of ASD-risk among both catchment area-based families and multiplex families. Our results suggest that the models with more than three risk components are preferable to the two-component model. Our results also suggest that the largest proportion of ASD cases is caused by dominant inheritance. We additionally show that Supplementary information regarding prevalence has a crucial role in analyzing proband-ascertained data.

Genetic correlation between autistic traits and IQ in a population-based sample of twins with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

Although there is accumulating evidence that intelligence quotient (IQ) indexes some aspects of the autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), the causal relationship between autistic traits and IQ remains controversial. We examined the sources of covariation between autistic traits and IQ. As males have a four times greater risk of ASDs than females, gender-specific effects were also explored. Autistic traits and IQ were assessed in 45 twin male-male, female-female and opposite-sex pairs ascertained by the regional screening system in Nagoya, Japan. Sex-limited Cholesky structural equation models were used to decompose the correlations between autistic traits and IQ into genetic and environmental components, including sex-specific factors. Genetic correlations between autistic traits and IQ were high and not significantly different between boys and girls (-0.94 and -0.95, respectively), but genetic factors underlying the autistic traits were not entirely shared with the IQ. The individual-specific environmental correlation between autistic traits and IQ was estimated at -0.29 for boys and -0.59 for girls. There is a substantial overlap between the genetic factors that influence individual variation in autistic traits and IQ, irrespective of gender. The individual life experiences that increase autistic traits, however, have a moderate overlap with those that contribute to individual IQs.

Genetic influences on the broad spectrum of autism: study of proband-ascertained twins.

An investigation of genetic structures underlying autistic traits was performed with samples from twins for which at least one proband had been ascertained as having autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in our catchment area. In order to adjust for recent concepts of autism, we employed criteria for the broad spectrum of disease and the childhood autism rating scale (CARS) for quantitative assessment. The CARS test was performed on 45 twin pairs (19 monozygotic, 26 dizygotic) detected with a regional routine screening system. The obtained CARS scores were subjected to structural equation modeling (SEM), incorporating sex differences for each causal influence ascertainment correction, using the Mx software. A best fitting model of causal influences on autistic traits measured continuously, incorporating additive genetic (A) and non-shared environmental influences (E), was generated. With this AE model, the estimated heritability was 0.73 for males and 0.87 for females, based on the continuous CARS scores. There was no evidence for the existence of sex-specific genetic influences. Autistic traits were highly heritable in twins with even broad spectrum of autism, corresponding to the results of early studies based on classical autism. Additive genetic factors were more influential in females than males.

SSCP screening of the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase gene polymorphisms of the Japanese population using a semi-automated electrophoresis unit.

The single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) procedure has been applied in routine testing for hereditary diseases. Temperature, running buffer, gel composition, and fragment length can influence its sensitivity. Mutation detection in the clinical setting depends on the development of automated technology, especially for large genes, such as the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD) gene, which codes the initial, rate-limiting enzyme in the catabolism of 5-fluorouracil (5FU). The authors have optimized the condition of SSCP with an automated system (GenePhor system, GE Healthcare UK Ltd.) to screen genetic polymorphisms in the DPYD gene. The efficiency of the method was evaluated using 21 positive controls (DNA samples with polymorphisms in the DPYD gene, previously characterized) and DNA samples from 35 Japanese. Results showed that the use of three different running buffers (pH 7.4, 8.3, and 9.0) in combination with other optimized conditions (10% polyacrylamide gel, 60-90 min at constant 900 V at 5 degrees C) resulted in a high polymorphism detection rate (95.3%), which was considered appropriate for routine screening. Therefore, this strategy could be useful for pharmacogenetic studies on 5FU.