Low Spectral Power Research Articles

Beta Spectral Power during Passive Listening in Preschool Children with Specific Language Impairment

Introduction: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulties in different speech and language domains. Electrophysiological studies have documented that auditory processing in children with SLI is atypical and probably caused by delayed and abnormal auditory maturation. During the resting state, or different auditory tasks, children with SLI show low or high beta spectral power, which could be a clinical correlate for investigating brain rhythms. Methods: The aim of this study was to examine the electrophysiological cortical activity of the beta rhythm while listening to words and nonwords in children with SLI in comparison to typical development (TD) children. The participants were 50 children with SLI, aged 4 and 5 years, and 50 age matched TD children. The children were divided into two subgroups according to age: (1) children 4 years of age; (2) children 5 years of age. Results: The older group differed from the younger group in beta auditory processing, with increased values of beta spectral power in the right frontal, temporal, and parietal regions. In addition, children with SLI have higher beta spectral power than TD children in the bilateral temporal regions. Conclusion: Complex beta auditory activation in TD and SLI children indicates the presence of early changes in functional brain connectivity.

Dynamic thresholding logarithmic companding for PAPR reduction in MIMO-OFDM systems for 5G wireless communication

In order to advance 5G wireless communication technology, this paper presents a novel method for lowering the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) in Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems. It is called the Dynamic Thresholding-based μ-law (DT-μ-law) logarithmic companding technique, and it greatly improves the performance of the system by effectively broadcasting data streams on a single frequency across multiple channels. This technique's ability lies in compressing the amplitude of the transmitting signal beyond a specific threshold value before the parallel-to-serial conversion block in the MIMO-OFDM system. It employs the direct insertion of an offset value into the guard bits, rather than using a step function for the amplitude reduction process, which can reduce additional system complexity and data loss during signal expansion at the receiver end. This technique is more adequately suited for dynamic data rate shifting and interference within a limited threshold value. The dynamic thresholding value (α) is determined by calculating the median and standard deviation of the μ-law companding. This ensures the effective compression of higher amplitude signals at the transmitter, using μ-law log companding. To streamline the decompanding process at the receiver, an offset is introduced, facilitating a smoother transition and reducing complexity. The results demonstrate that the proposed DT- μ-law companding technique significantly improves PAPR reduction while maintaining low Bit Error Rates (BER) and high average spectral power efficiency. This efficiency is optimal when the μ value is maintained within the range of 4–4.5. Furthermore, it was observed that an increase in the μ value corresponds to a decrease in both PAPR value and BER. Specifically, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 15.2 dB, the BER stabilizes at 10−1. Compared to existing methods like the Max-Min Decomp-SLM approach, this technique offers lower Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) values, thereby enhancing spectral efficiency and maximizing data capacity.

Predicting sympathovagal balance using parameters of breathing patterns in abdominal breathing

Introduction. Abdominal breathing is utilized as a non-pharmacological treatment method for various stress-related conditions and autonomic dysfunctions. The objective of the study was to determine the predictors in the modulation of sympathovagal balance, as indicated by the ratio of low frequency to high frequency power of heart rate variability, by utilizing the respiratory pattern parameters recorded during the abdominal breathing model. Material and methods. The study involved a group of 101 healthy subjects, where the breathing pattern was recorded using a respiratory induction plethysmograph. Heart activity was estimated through electrocardiography, followed by heart rate variability analysis during both resting and abdominal breathing. Eight parameters of the breathing pattern were recorded in the subjects during resting breathing and abdominal breathing, presumed to be predictors of the ratio of low frequency to high frequency power of heart rate variability. Separate predictive models were created for this ratio for both the resting and abdominal breathing types. Results. The multilinear regression analysis revealed that the primary predictor with the highest predictive power for determining the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiac influence, as indicated by the low frequency spectral power to high frequency spectral power ratio, in individuals practicing abdominal breathing is Tidal Volume (unstandardized coefficient = 5.007). This was followed by the duration of expiration (coefficient = -3.831) and respiratory minute-volume (coefficient = 4.415), both of which were recorded during resting breathing. In the abdominal breathing model, the most effective predictors were found to be time-related parameters, specifically the frequency of breathing during abdominal breathing (coefficient = -5.953), the duration of the inspiratory phase (coefficient = -4.037), and the duration of the expiration phase (coefficient = -4.194). Conclusions. Abdominal breathing has the potential to normalize sympathovagal balance by adjusting the duration of inspiration or expiration. Further studies should be conducted to investigate the practical application of breathing pattern parameters in restoring the low frequency to high frequency (LF/HF) ratio, particularly in disorders characterized by elevated sympathovagal balance.

Broadband supercontinuum generation in cascaded tapered liquid core fiber

Most recent broad supercontinuum sources have used nonlinear fibers with small core diameters, resulting in low coupling efficiency, limiting power level launching into the fiber, and low spectral power density. In this work, we numerically investigate tapered liquid-core fibers for supercontinuum generation that have a potential for both high coupling efficiency (with a standard SMF-28 fiber) and high nonlinear effects. Carbon disulfide is selected to fill into the fibers because of its high nonlinear refractive index and high transparency from the visible to the mid-infrared range. We consider cascaded fibers including SMF-28 and the tapered liquid-core fibers for all-normal and anomalous dispersion supercontinuum generation pumped by C-band femtosecond lasers (1560 nm, 90 fs). In such a case, we obtain all-normal dispersion supercontinuum generation with flat-top, broad bandwidth (1.0–2.5μm) via an input peak power of 27 kW. By changing the core diameter of the tapered fiber, we also yield anomalous dispersion supercontinuum generation with broad spectral bandwidth (1.0–3.3μm). In addition, the use of the cascaded tapered fibers is possible to mitigate fiber damage (via thermal effects of a high-power laser on the selected liquids) and increase stability of output supercontinuum spectra. In this context, supercontinuum generation in the cascaded fibers by using a picosecond laser with high average power (≈ 800 mW) is considered towards applications requiring high spectral power density (e.g., multiphoton imaging techniques).

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS TO IDENTIFY SIMPLE, ROBUST AND RELEVANT BIOMARKERS FOR THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS FOR PTSD: STUDY RATIONALE, KEY ELEMENTS OF DESIGN AND A CONTEXT OF WAR IN UKRAINE

Introduction. The incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is increasing due to war in Ukraine is of growing importance as this disorder is a serious risk factor for alcohol/drug abuse, depression, suicide and functional dysregulation of internal organs, in particular cardiovascular, endocrine, immune systems. PTSD can also lead to social inadaptation in family and at work. This makes PTSD a very important social problem in Ukraine that causes significant economic damage, since most of the PTSD patients are young and in working age.
 Objectives. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rationale, key elements of design, methodology and future prospects of the ongoing project “Exploratory study of health related physiological and biochemical parameters to identify simple, robust and relevant biomarkers for therapeutic interventions for PTSD patients”.
 Methods. Short time ECG records (5 minutes in supine position and 6 minutes in orthostatic test) recorded by “CARDIOLAB” (Kharkiv, Ukraine) digital ECG device with software to analyze HRV was used to calculate time-domain and frequency-domain parameters of HRV.
 Results. The pattern of HRV changes indicates suppression of parasympathetic activity, low overall spectral power and dominance of sympathetic branch of autonomic nervous system in participants with PTSD.
 Conclusions. PTSD has no effective treatment so far and the best clinical practices rarely reach efficacy of 50%. The realization of the exploratory clinical study described in this paper will provide insights in the mechanisms underlying systemic consequences of PTSD and will build the evidence enabling clinical trial(s) for studying treatment intervention for patients with PTSD.

Study of Neptune dayside magnetosheath fluctuations during Voyager-2 flyby

Turbulence in the outer planetary magnetospheres has been relatively less studied than in the Earth’s magnetosphere, especially for the ice giants which have been visited only by the Voyager-2 spacecraft so far. The aim of this work is to study the turbulence in Neptune’s dayside magnetosheath. Voyager-2 magnetometer 3-s averaged magnetic field data were analyzed with several data analysis techniques. It was found that most of the magnetosheath magnetic field is aligned in the BT direction. The BR-component spectrum showed the predominance of short-period (5minutes) oscillations, while the BT- and BN- components showed the occurrence of longer-period (20–50minutes) oscillations. The Fourier spectrum of the magnetic field showed a breakpoint near 0.00165Hz. The lower frequency portion showed index (absolute values) smaller than 1.0. The higher frequency portion showed a much steeper spectrum, with power law values varying from about 2.0 to 2.4. The statistical kurtosis parameters for BR and BN are higher than 3 in almost all scales, while the BT component (main field direction) has a more Gaussian or sub-Gaussian behavior, specially in scales higher than 20minutes. The kurtosis is very high at the low frequency spectral power of 40minutes for the BN-component, indicating asymmetric or non-Gaussian magnetic field distribution in the magnetosheath. The multifractal spectrum is well spread in the magnetosheath revealing a rich and dynamic activity in this region. Overall, the Neptune’s magnetosheath is found to have a strong turbulence activity that is comparable to that of other planetary magnetosheaths.

Frontal Low Delta Spectral Power is Lower in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease than in Matched Controls (P1-1.Virtual)

Frontal Low Delta Spectral Power is Lower in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease than in Matched Controls (P1-1.Virtual)

Tetrathienothiophene Porphyrin as a Metal-Free Sensitizer for Room-Temperature Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Upconversion.

Optically excited triplet states of organic molecules serve as an energy pool for the subsequent processes, either photon energy downhill, such as room temperature phosphorescence, or photon energy uphill process—the triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC). Manifestation of a high intersystem crossing coefficient is an unavoidable requirement for triplet state formation, following the absorption of a single photon. This requirement is even more inevitable if the excitation light is non-coherent, with moderate intensity and extremely low spectral power density, when compared with the light parameters of 1 Sun (1.5 AM). Coordination of a heavy atom increases substantially the probability of intersystem crossing. Nevertheless, having in mind the global shortage in precious and rare-earth metals, identification of metal-free organic moieties able to form triplet states becomes a prerequisite for environmental friendly optoelectronic technologies. This motivates us to synthesize a metal-free thienothiophene containing porphyrin, based on a condensation reaction between thienothiophene-2-carbaldehyde and pyrrole in an acidic medium by modified synthetic protocol. The upconversion couple tetrathienothiophene porphyrin/rubrene when excited at λ = 658 nm demonstrates bright, delayed fluorescence with a maximum emission at λ = 555 nm. This verifies our hypothesis that the ISC coefficient in thienothiophene porphyrin is efficient in order to create even at room temperature and low-intensity optical excitation densely populated organic triplet ensemble and is suitable for photon energy uphill processes, which makes this type of metal-free sensitizers even more important for optoelectronic applications.

Validation of Visually Identified Muscle Potentials during Human Sleep Using High Frequency/Low Frequency Spectral Power Ratios.

Surface electromyography (EMG), typically recorded from muscle groups such as the mentalis (chin/mentum) and anterior tibialis (lower leg/crus), is often performed in human subjects undergoing overnight polysomnography. Such signals have great importance, not only in aiding in the definitions of normal sleep stages, but also in defining certain disease states with abnormal EMG activity during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, e.g., REM sleep behavior disorder and parkinsonism. Gold standard approaches to evaluation of such EMG signals in the clinical realm are typically qualitative, and therefore burdensome and subject to individual interpretation. We originally developed a digitized, signal processing method using the ratio of high frequency to low frequency spectral power and validated this method against expert human scorer interpretation of transient muscle activation of the EMG signal. Herein, we further refine and validate our initial approach, applying this to EMG activity across 1,618,842 s of polysomnography recorded REM sleep acquired from 461 human participants. These data demonstrate a significant association between visual interpretation and the spectrally processed signals, indicating a highly accurate approach to detecting and quantifying abnormally high levels of EMG activity during REM sleep. Accordingly, our automated approach to EMG quantification during human sleep recording is practical, feasible, and may provide a much-needed clinical tool for the screening of REM sleep behavior disorder and parkinsonism.

Heart Rate Variability Peculiarities in Adolescents with Psychopathology in the Educational Environment

Under conditions of inclusive education, students with health limitations, in particular, children with neurological and mental disorders, have the opportunity to study at a general school. The goal of this study was to assess the possibility of using analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) as a relatively simple tool for evaluation of the adaptive resources in students with mental disorders and for early detection of dysfunctions in the neuroregulatory mechanisms in healthy students. We compared the spectral parameters of HRV and peripheral blood pressure in healthy adolescents (n = 70) and adolescents with neuropsychiatric disorders (n = 58). Electrocardiogram was recorded for 2 minutes in a sitting posture, wearing a spirometric mask with voluntary breathing. Adolescents with mental disorders demonstrated a high total power of the HRV spectrum, an increased high-frequency power (0.15–0.4 Hz), a decreased low frequency / high-frequency ratio, and reduced total power and low frequency spectral power of systolic blood pressure variability. The revealed differences were observed mainly in males. The presented data demonstrate an increased vagal tone in adolescents with mental disabilities. Our findings support the idea that HRV can be used in schools to identify risk groups of vulnerability to mental disorders.

Can Spectral Power Be Used as a Candidate Seizure Marker of the Periodic Discharges Pattern?

Introduction: It remains controversial whether the periodic discharges (PDs) pattern is an ictal or interictal phenomenon. The aims of the study are to apply time-frequency and power spectrum analysis to study the PDs pattern and prediction of seizures.Methods: We retrospectively searched continuous electroencephalography (cEEG) recordings to identify patients exhibiting the PDs pattern. Artifact-free cEEG segments demonstrating the PDs pattern with stable baselines were chosen for time-frequency and power spectrum analysis.Results: In total, 72 patients (1.3%) exhibited the PDs pattern, with a mean age 36.0 ± 20.7 years (range, 8–76 years). The median spectral power of PDs with a length of 60 s was 70.94 μV2 and that of PDs with a length of 20 s was 195.80 μV2. During follow-up, patients with spectral power of PDs of length 60 and 20 s lower than 28.65 and 36.09 μV2, respectively, exhibited no seizure. For predicting seizures, when the spectral power for PDs of 60 and 20 s equaled to 17.26 and 21.40 μV2, respectively, the diagnostic sensitivity was 100% and specificity was 86%. The locations of maximal spectral power of PDs, crude seizure onset zone (SOZ) judged from scalp EEG, and the most prominent regions of hyper- or hypo-metabolism on FDG-PET were congruent.Conclusions: Spectral power might be a candidate seizure marker of the PDs pattern. High spectral power predicted a high risk of seizures, and low spectral power was associated with a low risk of seizures.

Activation of the cholinergic antiinflammatory reflex by occipitoatlantal decompression and transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation.

The parasympathetic-mediated inflammatory reflex inhibits excessive proinflammatory cytokine production. Noninvasive techniques, including occipitoatlantal decompression (OA-D) and transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS), have been demonstrated to increase parasympathetic tone. To test the hypothesis that OA-D and taVNS increase parasympathetic nervous system activity and inhibit proinflammatory cytokine mobilization and/or production. Healthy adult participants were randomized to receive OA-D (5min of OA-D followed by 10min of rest; n=8), taVNS (15min; n=9), or no intervention (15min, time control; n=10) on three consecutive days. Before and after these interventions, saliva samples were collected for determination of the cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α). Arterial blood pressure and the electrocardiogram were recorded for a 30-min baseline, throughout the intervention, and during a 30-min recovery period to derive heart rate and blood pressure variability markers as indices of vagal and sympathetic control. OA-D and taVNS increased root mean square of successive RR interval differences (RMSSD) and high frequency heart rate variability, which are established markers for parasympathetic modulation of cardiac function. In all three groups, the experimental protocol was associated with a significant increase in salivary cytokine concentrations. However, the increase in IL-1β was significantly less in the taVNS group (+66±13pg/mL; p<0.05) than in the time control group (+142±24pg/mL). A similar trend was observed in the taVNS group for TNF-α (+1.7±0.3pg/mL vs. 4.1±1.3pg/mL; p<0.10). In the OA-D group baseline IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α levels on the third study day were significantly lower than on the first study day (IL-6: 2.3±0.4 vs. 3.2±0.6pg/mL, p<0.05; IL-8: 190±61 vs. 483±125pg/mL, p <0.05; TNF-α: 1.2±0.3 vs. 2.3±0.4pg/mL, p<0.05). OA-D decreased mean blood pressure from the first (100±8mmHg) to the second (92±6mmHg; p<0.05) and third (93±8mmHg; p<0.05) study days and reduced low frequency spectral power of systolic blood pressure variability (19±3mmHg2 after OA-D vs. 28±5mmHg2 before OA-D; p<0.05), a marker of sympathetic modulation of vascular tone. OA-D also increased baroreceptor-heart rate reflex sensitivity from the first (13.7±3.0ms/mmHg) to the second (18.4±4.3ms/mmHg; p<0.05) and third (16.9±4.2ms/mmHg; p<0.05) study days. Both OA-D and taVNS elicited antiinflammatory responses that were associated with increases in heart rate variability-derived markers for parasympathetic function. These findings suggest that OA-D and taVNS activate the parasympathetic antiinflammatory reflex. Furthermore, an antihypertensive effect was observed with OA-D that may be mediated by reduced sympathetic modulation of vascular tone and/or increased baroreceptor reflex sensitivity.

Salience and default-mode network connectivity during threat and safety processing in older adults.

The appropriate assessment of threat and safety is important for decision‐making but might be altered in old age due to neurobiological changes. The literature on threat and safety processing in older adults is sparse and it is unclear how healthy ageing affects the brain's functional networks associated with affective processing. We measured skin conductance responses as an indicator of sympathetic arousal and used functional magnetic resonance imaging and independent component analysis to compare young and older adults' functional connectivity in the default mode (DMN) and salience networks (SN) during a threat conditioning and extinction task. While our results provided evidence for differential threat processing in both groups, they also showed that functional connectivity within the SN – but not the DMN – was weaker during threat processing in older compared to young adults. This reduction of within‐network connectivity was accompanied by an age‐related decrease in low frequency spectral power in the SN and a reduction in inter‐network connectivity between the SN and DMN during threat and safety processing. Similarly, we found that skin conductance responses were generally lower in older compared to young adults. Our results are the first to demonstrate age‐related changes in brain activation during aversive conditioning and suggest that the ability to adaptively filter affective information is reduced in older adults.

Ultra-Wideband Technology: Standards, Characteristics, Applications

The boost in the number of mobile users and automated devices has led to urge of high speed communication with low power consumption devices. Another demand is the uninterrupted communication. This has led to the evolution of a technique referred as Ultra Wideband (UWB). UWB is capable of providing very high data rates and has very low power consumption. This technique relies on carrier less transmission of data in the form of pulses over a wide bandwidth and is mainly suited for short range applications. The short pulses add to the robust performance in the presence of multipath effects. Low spectral power density permits amalgamation of multiple signals and also interception. Due to numerous benefits, UWB finds it usefulness in many areas such as wireless communication, radar imaging, medical and indoor positioning. The paper aims to provide an overview of UWB standards, characteristics and applications.

Asociación de desórdenes autonómicos con aterosclerosis subclínica

Introduction and objectivesAlterations of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system have been proposed as precursors of the genesis and perpetuation of atherosclerosis for a long time. The objective of this study is to determine if there is an association between the presence of carotid atherosclerosis and the reduction in heart rate variability. MethodsUsing a prospective case-control design, the heart rate variability and the presence of carotid atherosclerosis was investigated in 54 patients, divided into 2groups according to the presence or absence of carotid atherosclerosis. An analysis was made of the heart rate variability variables of the frequency (spectral) domain in high frequency band, low frequency band, parasympathetic autonomic balance, and the total spectral band. ResultsOf the 54 individuals evaluated without previous cardiovascular disease consecutively, 26 of them (48%) presented with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis (ATE+). A reduction in heart rate variability was observed in the ATE+group represented by the low frequency (LF) spectrum (P<.0001). The parasympathetic activity specifically represented in the high frequency (HF) band was also lower in the ATE+group in the univariate analysis (P<.0001), same as the total spectral power (P<.0001), an index of integral autonomic regulation. No significant differences were found in the LF/HF analysis (P=.1598). After analysing variables with significant differences in the univariate analysis with a logistic regression model, only systolic blood preassure and the total spectral power were shown to be independent predictors of ATE+. ConclusionA reduction in heart rate variability was found in subjects with carotid atherosclerosis. Some spectral components of heart rate variability, like low frequency or total spectral power, were better predictors of carotid atherosclerosis than the parasympathetic autonomic balance. In this study it seems that total spectral power is an adequate measurement for analysing autonomic function.

A Family of Single-Channel Spectrally-Null-Constrained Sequences With Low Correlation

Spectrally-constrained sequences (SCSs) with good correlation properties, and low spectral power under the spectral constraint have found many practical applications in communication, and radar systems operating over non-contiguous carriers or frequency slots. In this letter, a construction of single-channel spectrally-null-constrained sequence (SNCS) families with good correlation is proposed. Following the proposed construction, a single-channel polyphase SNCS family with period $N(N$ + 1), and family size $(p-1)$ can be obtained, which has zero power leakage under the spectral constraint $\lbrace 1+a(N+1):a\in \mathbb {Z}_N\rbrace$ , where $N$ is an odd integer, and $p$ is the minimum prime factor of $N$ . Note that the maximum periodic correlation magnitude of the derived single-channel SNCS family is $(N+1)$ , which asymptotically achieves the correlation lower bound as $p$ increasing.

Longitudinal study of the sympathovagal balance in women submitted to bariatric surgery

Studies have shown improvement of the cardiac autonomic balance in post-bariatric patients. Most of these studies included patients using drugs interfering in the autonomic nervous system. This study assessed the time course of changes in the sympathovagal balance after bariatric surgery (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) in 26 women free from drugs. A 10-min electrocardiographic recording was obtained at baseline and at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Temporal and spectral domains of heart rate variability were analysed. The time domain components of cardiac vagal modulation increased progressively after surgery. In the frequency domain, high frequency power increased from 24.9 at baseline (18.0 to 46.3) to 44.5 at 3 months (23.4 to 65.6), and 54.1 at 6 months after surgery (37.6 to 64.0) (median and IQR in normalized units). Low frequency spectral power decreased from 56.2 at baseline (39.6 to 74.4) to 36.8 at 6 months after surgery (24.9 to 53.9) (P= 0.036). Low frequency/high frequency ratio decreased from 2.3 at baseline (1.0 to 4.2) to 0.8 at 6 months after surgery (0.4 to 1.3) (P= 0.038). Progressive shift towards predominance of vagal tonus was detected in the follow-up. Most of the patients recovered low frequency/high frequency at 6 months after surgery.

Asenapine maleate normalizes low frequency oscillatory deficits in a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia

Asenapine maleate (AM) is an atypical antipsychotic that, unlike many other antipsychotics, shows some efficacy in treating cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Normal cognitive function has long since been associated with high frequency neuronal oscillations. However, recent research has highlighted the potential importance of low frequency oscillations. Here, the impact of AM on low frequency neural oscillatory activity was evaluated in the methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) rat model system used for the study schizophrenia, and the oscillatory signatures compared to those of haloperidol (HAL) and clozapine (CLZ). AM and CLZ normalized low frequency spectral power deficits in the prefrontal cortex, while HAL and AM reversed corticostriatal and corticocortical delta coherence deficits. However, only chronic AM administration normalized corticostriatal and corticocortical delta coherence deficits between 3–4 Hz. These findings support the idea that antipsychotic-induced amelioration of both delta coherence and power may be important for therapeutic efficacy in treating the cognitive deficits inherent in schizophrenia.

Characteristics of the SOL turbulence structure in the first experimental campaign on W7-X with limiter configuration

In the first experimental campaign of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), a combined probe head mounted on the multi-purpose manipulator has been used to measure the scrape-off layer (SOL) turbulence characteristics. The preliminary experimental results are summarized to illustrate the SOL turbulence properties in the limiter configuration on W7-X. In a standard limiter configuration, significant electrostatic fluctuations can be found in the near SOL, and the dominant frequency of fluctuation power is below 100 kHz. The auto-correlation spectrum power law decay factor is α ≈ −1 below 40 kHz and α ≈ –2 between 50 and 200 kHz. A broadband spectrum appears between 240 and 380 kHz with a low spectral power density, but a high cross-correlation coefficient. The statistical characteristics of turbulence are calculated by the two-point cross-correlation technique. A clear poloidal dispersion relation is found in the spectrum S(kθ, f), propagating along the ion diamagnetic drift direction with a group velocity (below 100 kHz) about 0.56 km/s in the near SOL in the laboratory frame. The poloidal correlation length is around 5–10 mm in SOL. The turbulence phase velocity is about 0.5–1 km/s when close to the last closed flux surface, which is comparable with the poloidal E × B drift speed.

Higher energy intake at dinner decreases parasympathetic activity during nighttime sleep in menstruating women: A randomized controlled trial.

Previous studies have found more frequent increases in dietary intake and nonrestorative nocturnal sleep during the luteal phase than in the follicular phase, but few studies have investigated how increased energy intake at dinner influences sleep by considering the correlation between female hormone and cardiac autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. This study examined the effects of energy intake at dinner on ANS activity during nighttime sleep in order to evaluate restorative sleep in healthy women. We also examined whether ANS activity is associated with female hormone dynamics. Twenty-four healthy collegiate women participated in this randomized crossover trial. Each was assigned to receive a High Energy Dinner (HED) or Low Energy Dinner (LED) treatment. Energy ratios of each test meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) to total energy intake were 1:1:2 and 1:2:1 for HED and LED treatments, respectively. Each participant wore an ECG recorder before dinner and removed it upon waking the next morning. Power spectral analysis of heart rate variability was used to calculate low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), and total spectral power (TP). Cardiac sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) nervous system activity were evaluated as LF/HF and HF/TP, respectively. Mean HF/TP for the entire sleeping period was lower with HED treatment compared to LED treatment (41.7 ± 11.4 vs. 45.0 ± 12.13, P = .034). Intergroup comparisons of the initial 3-h sleeping period revealed that LF/HF (0.87 ± 0.82 vs. 0.66 ± 0.82, P = .013) and HF/TP (45.6 ± 13.9 vs. 51.5 ± 11.8, P = .002) were higher and lower, respectively, with HED treatment compared to LED treatment. Progesterone levels were positively correlated with LF/HF with LED treatment, and negatively correlated with HF/TP with both HED and LED treatments. Higher energy intake at dinner increases and decreases SNS and PNS activities, respectively, resulting in nonrestorative nocturnal sleep. In addition, a negative correlation was observed between progesterone and PNS activity, highlighting the difficulty of increasing PNS activity during sleep in the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase.