Objectives:The aim of the present study was (a) to determine the relationship of videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) findings of the swallowing musculature with the diagnostic criteria for sarcopenic dysphagia and (b) to examine the usefulness of VFSS for diagnosing sarcopenic dysphagia. Methods:The participants were 132 patients (mean age, 80.4 ± 8.8 years). Their skeletal muscle mass, nutritional status and swallowing functions as assessed by VFSS findings were measured. Also, the relationship between the VFSS findings and sarcopenia was examined.Results: Of all the participants, 20 men (mean age, 83.2 ± 6.9 years) and 27 women (mean age, 85.3 ± 6.9 years) were diagnosed with sarcopenia. In men, the amount of laryngeal upward movement (ALUM) was significantly lower and the pharyngeal area was significantly wider in the sarcopenia group than in the non-sarcopenia group.In women, the pharyngeal area was significantly wider in the sarcopenia group than in the non-sarcopenia group. In a logistic regression model, ALUM (odds ratio [OR] 1.135, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.037-1.241, P = .006) and pharyngeal area (OR 0.028, 95% CI 0.001-0.670, P = .027) was a significant independent factor for the presence or absence of sarcopenia. Conclusions: The decline in swallowing function of sarcopenia patients was characterised by lower laryngeal movement and enlargement of the pharyngeal cavity due to decreased skeletal muscle mass and decreased muscle strength. The present study suggested the usefulness of measuring ALUM during swallowing and measuring the pharyngeal area with VFSS as indicators of decreased swallowing muscle function in sarcopenia. K E Y W O R D S larynx, pharyngeal muscles, sarcopenia, swallowing | 585 MIYASHITA eT Al.

Background Tongue muscle strength is important for swallowing but decreases with age, in association with reduced skeletal muscle mass. However, the relationships between pharyngeal dynamics and both skeletal muscle mass and tongue muscle strength are unknown. Objective To investigate the effect of reductions in tongue muscle strength on pharyngeal movement during swallowing in patients with dysphagia. Methods Subjects were selected from male outpatients ≥65 years old who were examined for the main complaint of dysphagia. Patients with history of neurodegenerative disease affecting tongue movement, cerebrovascular disease or oral cancer were excluded. As a result, 82 men (mean age, 80.6 ± 6.8 years) participated. Skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) as physical parameters and maximum tongue pressure (MTP) as tongue muscles strength were measured. Status and dynamics of the pharyngeal organs, including change in posterior pharyngeal wall advancement (PPWA) when swallowing 3.0 mL of moderately thick liquid, were measured by analysing videofluoroscopic images. Simple bivariate correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to statistically analyse correlations between parameters. Results MTP showed a significant positive correlation with SMI (r = .43, P < .01). PPWA showed a significant negative correlation with MTP (r = −0.30, P < .01), but no association with SMI. Conclusions While tongue muscle strength is affected by skeletal muscle mass, posterior pharyngeal wall advancement is not readily affected by decreases in skeletal muscle mass. Posterior pharyngeal wall advancement may increase to compensate for swallowing function among individuals with reduced tongue muscle strength.

Ultrahigh-repetition-rate lasers will become vital light sources for many future technologies; however, their realization is challenging because the cavity size must be minimized. Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonators are attractive for this purpose since they allow the strong light–matter interaction usually needed to enable mode locking. However, the optimum parameter ranges are entirely unknown since no experiments have yet been conducted. Here, we numerically investigate pulsed operation in a toroidal WGM microresonator with gain and saturable absorption (SA) to study the experimental feasibility. We show that dispersion is the key parameter for achieving passive mode locking in this system. Moreover, the design guideline provided in this work can apply to any small resonators with gain and SA and is not limited to a specific cavity system.

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We used up-conversion to capture the localized light of a photonic crystal spectrometer with an inexpensive CMOS camera. We employed this data to detect a single wavelength using deep learning.

Down syndrome (DS) has the highest prevalence of any chromosomal abnormality identified in newborns. DS children have specific eating and swallowing difficulties such as poor tongue control, mouth opening, swallowing food without chewing, and both facial and occlusal abnormalities. DS children are also at high risk of aspiration, and swallowing food without chewing is considered to be a factor associated with increased risk of aspiration and eating problems. This study aimed to identify factors preventing the acquisition of masticatory function in DS children. The subjects were 75 outpatient DS children (44 males, age range 12 to 36 month-old, mean age 33.0 ± 7.0 month-old; 31 females, age 12 to 36 month-old, mean age 20.8 ± 8.0 month-old), who had not yet acquired masticatory function, out of 319 who visited the clinic between October 2012 and October 2017. The information necessary for assessment was retrospectively extracted from the medical records of the subjects. The items examined included age, birth weight, nutritional intake, picky eating, tactile hyperesthesia, cognitive development assessed by Ohta stage, gross motor function, occlusal condition by Hellman’s dental age, and tongue thrust/lip closure/mastication while eating. The relationships between the acquisition of masticatory function and these items were investigated after one year of rehabilitation. The revealed age, low birth weight, picky eating, and gross motor function to be relevant factors. Among these, gross motor function was found to be the factor most strongly associated with acquisition of masticatory function.

We numerically investigate the deterministic generation of a perfect soliton crystal (PSC) in an optical microresonator functionalized with a saturable absorber (SA). The SA allows the direct formation of a PSC from an initial, periodic Turing roll. It prevents passage through a chaotic state, which induces a stochastic nature with regard to the number of generated dissipative Kerr solitons. We show that PSCs form deterministically, and the number is controlled by adjusting the input power and SA parameter. Our work provides a simple approach for obtaining a stable PSC that offers an ultrahigh repetition rate and a high comb output power.

A light source based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is one of the promising candidates for a microsized light source on a silicon chip at telecommunication wavelengths in optical communications and optical interconnects. However, SWNT-based light emitters possess the disadvantage of having a very broad emission spectrum. Here, we present an ultranarrow-linewidth photoluminescence (PL) emitter based on a silica toroid resonator, along with SWNTs, on a silicon chip. We simultaneously managed both excitation and emission lights at telecommunication wavelengths on a silicon chip by employing a very simple in-line configuration consisting of a toroid resonator and a tapered fiber for light input and output. Owing to the extremely high Q factor of our silica toroid resonator, we obtained an ultrahigh Q factor (∼2.1 × 104) of C-band PL emission. We also demonstrated strong PL emission under laterally polarized excitation conditions owing to the strong coupling to the toroid resonator, and laterally polarized PL emission can be selectively generated independently of the excitation polarization direction. This SWNT-based PL emitter based on a simple system with a silica toroid resonator can open routes to highly integrated photonics and optoelectronics on silicon-based platforms.