BackgroundMany musculoskeletal pain conditions are characterized by hypersensitivity, which is induced by central sensitization (CS). A questionnaire, the Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI), was recently developed to help clinicians identify patients whose presenting symptoms may be related to central sensitivity syndrome (CSS). The aims of the present study were to examine criterion validity and construct validity of the Japanese version of the CSI (CSI-J), and to investigate prevalence rates of CS severity levels in patients with musculoskeletal disorders.MethodsTranslation of the CSI into Japanese was conducted using a forward-backward method. Two hundred and ninety patients with musculoskeletal pain disorders completed the resultant CSI-J. A subset of the patients (n = 158) completed the CSI-J again one week later. The relationships between CSI and clinical symptoms, EuroQol 5-dimension (EQ-5D) and Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), were examined for criterion validity. EQ-5D assesses Health-related QOL and BPI measures pain intensity and pain interference. The psychometric properties were evaluated with analyses of construct validity, factor structure and internal consistency, and subsequently investigate the prevalence rates of CS severity levels.ResultsThe CSI-J demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.89) and test-retest reliability was excellent value (ICC = 0.85). The CSI-J was significantly correlated with EQ-5D (r = −0.44), pain intensity (r = 0.42), and pain interference (r = 0.48) (p < 0.01 for all). Ten percent of the participants were above the cutoff “40”. The exploratory factor analysis resulted in 5-factor model.ConclusionsThis study reported that the CSI-J was a useful and psychometrically sound tool to assess CSS in Japanese patients with musculoskeletal disorders. The finding of the prevalence rates of CS severity levels in patients with musculoskeletal disorders may help clinicians to decide strategy of treatment.

Intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded organic compounds often exhibit fluorescence emission at considerably longer wavelengths than typical fluorescence as a result of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT). The structure-property relationship of such ESIPT molecules, however, remains obscure. The present article reports the excited-state dynamics of a new family of ESIPT molecules, 2-(2'-hydroxynaphthyl)benzazoles 1-3, based on steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy measurements. In comparison with the parent compound HBO, all three compounds 1-3 exhibited absorption bands at longer wavelengths and emitted fluorescence from the excited keto-tautomer K* at shorter wavelengths, indicating that the introduction of a naphthalene ring increases the energy gap between the ground and excited states for the keto-tautomer despite the expansion of the aromatic ring. Time-resolved fluorescence spectra revealed dual emission for compounds 1 and 3, consisting of two distinct fluorescence bands originating from K* and the excited rotamer E'*, whereas 2 exhibited fluorescence only from the K* state. In the transient absorption spectra, both the T-T absorption band and the ground state absorption band of the Z-keto tautomer were observed for 1, whereas only the T-T absorption band was observed for 2 and only the Z-keto tautomer band was observed for 3.

Chemical composition alteration is a general strategy to optimize the thermoelectric properties of a thermoelectric material to achieve high-efficiency conversion of waste heat into electricity. Recent studies show that the Al 2 Fe 3 Si 3 intermetallic compound with a relatively high power factor of ∼700 μW m −1 K −2 at 400 K is promising for applications in low-cost and nontoxic thermoelectric devices. To accelerate the exploration of the thermoelectric properties of this material in a mid-temperature range and to enhance its power factor, a machine-learning method was employed herein to assist the synthesis of off-stoichiometric samples (namely, Al 23.5+x Fe 36.5 Si 40−x ) of the Al 2 Fe 3 Si 3 compound by tuning the Al/Si ratio. The optimal Al/Si ratio for a high power factor in the mid-temperature range was found rapidly and efficiently, and the optimal ratio of the sample at x = 0.9 was found to increase the power factor at ∼510 K by about 40% with respect to that of the initial sample at x = 0.0. The possible mechanism for the enhanced power factor is discussed in terms of the precipitations of the metallic secondary phases in the Al 23.5+x Fe 36.5 Si 40−x samples. Furthermore, the maximum achievable thermal conductivity of Al 2 Fe 3 Si 3 estimated by the Slack model is ∼10 W m −1 K −1 at the Debye temperature. An avoided-crossing behavior of the acoustic and the low-lying optical modes along several crystallographic directions is found in the phonon dispersion of Al 2 Fe 3 Si 3 calculated by ab initio density functional theory method. These preliminary results suggest that Al 2 Fe 3 Si 3 can have a low thermal conductivity. The calculated formation energies of point defects suggest that the antisite defects between Al and Si are likely to cause the Al and Si off-stoichiometries in Al 2 Fe 3 Si 3 . The theoretically obtained insight provides additional information for the further understanding of Al 2 Fe 3 Si 3 .

Longstanding diabetes, poor glycemic control, and insulin use might be associated with poor postoperative improvement.

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Background Central sensitization (CS) is found in patients with musculoskeletal disorders and is related to clinical symptoms, including pain‐related disability. The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) has been developed for patients who are at risk of symptoms related to CS, and CSI severity levels are suggested for clinical interpretation of the CSI score. However, the longitudinal relationship between CSI severity and pain‐related disability is unclear in primary care. In this study, we investigated the association between CSI severity levels and the profiles of patients with musculoskeletal disorders as well as the longitudinal relationship between CSI severity levels and pain‐related disability in primary care settings. Methods A total of 553 patients were assessed using CSI, EuroQol‐5 dimension (EQ5D), and Brief Pain Inventory (BPI). Of the 553 patients, 150 patients were reassessed at the 3‐month follow‐up. Patients were grouped into three severity levels according to baseline CSI score: subclinical, mild, and moderate to higher level. Results As the CSI severity levels increased, the clinical symptoms tended to worsen on cross‐sectional analysis (p < 0.05). Pain‐related disability at the 3‐month follow‐up was significantly higher for patients with moderate to high baseline CSI severity levels than for patients with subclinical baseline CSI levels (p < 0.001). Furthermore, pain‐related disability increased according to the CSI severity level, with a medium to large effect size. However, there were no differences in pain duration across the CSI severity levels. Conclusions CSI has clinical utility as a prediction tool regardless of pain duration in patients with musculoskeletal disorders in primary care settings. Significance Higher CSI severity levels predicted higher pain‐related disability for patients with musculoskeletal disorders in a primary care setting. CSI is a clinically useful prediction tool in patients with musculoskeletal disorders.

Ionic liquids having a photoresponsive stilbene chromophore were prepared and their properties were examined. While the trans isomers were all solid, most of the cis isomers were liquid at room temperature. The trans isomers give fluorescence emission with a quantum yield of ca. 0.02, while the cis isomers practically give no fluorescence. Thus, we could photochemically switch the properties of ionic liquid as well as emission properties by photochemical processes.

2-(2′-Hydroxynaphthalenyl)benzoxazole (1) emits fluorescence with small Stokes shift from its excited tautomer (K*), produced by excited-state intramolecular proton transfer. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding may be responsible for this phenomenon on comparison with the results of 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole (HBO) and 2-(naphthalene-1-yl)benzoxazole (2) as a reference compound.