Effect of immunization with fetal cells on adenovirus-12 oncogenesis

The effect of immunization with hamster fetal cells on the tumor induction by adnovirus type 12 was studied by in vivo and in vitro. The immunization with lO-day old fetal cells showed a recognizable inhibition on the tumor induction by adenovirus type 12. The inhibition was observed only in males but not in females. For the inhibition, immnization with 107 or more cells was required. The immunization with same dose of l2-day-old fetal cells were ineffective. The inoculation of the spleen cells from hamsters immunized with un· irradiated fetal cells strongly inhibited the adenovirus·12 onocogenesis. Membrane immunofluorescent test, however, failed to demonstrate the fetal antigens in any of adnovirus-12-induced tumor cells, SV40induced tumor cells and cells from spontaneous hamster lymphoma.</p

Establishment of a hamster lymphoma cell line

The establishment of a hamster lymphoma cell line was attempted. Simple mincing and trypsinization of lymphoma tissue resulted in a high degree of cell degeneration. The ascitic tumor cells produced by intraperitoneal transplantation of lymphoma tissue gave a better result. These ascitic cells grew and were cultured successively in medium consisting of RPMI 1640 and 20% fetal calf serum. Cells were round and grew in suspension. Accelerated cell growth was observed one month after starting the culture. In the stained preparations, cells were lymphoblastic. Cells were transplantable into new-born hamsters and produced tumors, but not in young adult hamsters.</p

Development of an Education System to Foster Pharmacy Students’ Ability to Think Independently and Proactively

主体的な学びが注目される近年，薬剤師教育においても学生の主体性育成は必須である。こうした背景から，徳島大学薬学部では2015 年度以降の薬局実務実習において，学生自身が課題を発見・解決した記録を実習レポートのひとつとして導入している。そこで本研究では，学生の主体的な学習姿勢に対する本取り組みの影響を評価するため，導入前（2013 年度）と導入後（2015 ~ 2018 年度）の学習姿勢に関する自己評価アンケートを分析した。本取り組み導入後，「自主性・積極性」，「考察力」，「観察力・体得努力」に高い成長を感じた学生が増加しており，本取り組みは，学生の主体的な学習姿勢の醸成に寄与することが示唆された。In order to train highly qualified pharmacists, motivating students is one of the major roles of university education. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima University introduced a new education system in 2015, in which students find and solve their own questions and make them into reports during their practical training in hospitals and pharmacies. The goal was to develop the students’ ability to think independently and proactively. In this study, we evaluated the change of the students’ self-evaluation before (2013) and after (2015 ~ 2018) the introduction of the education system. After the introduction of the new education system, the number of students who self-evaluated themselves as having improved their "Independence/Activeness", "Thinking ability", and "Observation ability/Learning effort" increased. This study suggests that the new education system made the students’ attitude toward practical training more active and developed their ability to think independently and proactively

Perceptual Continuity and Naturalness of Expressive Strength in Singing Voices Based on Speech Morphing

This paper experimentally shows the importance of perceptual continuity of the expressive strength in vocal timbre for natural change in vocal expression. In order to synthesize various and continuous expressive strengths with vocal timbre, we investigated gradually changing expressions by applying the STRAIGHT speech morphing algorithm to singing voices. Here, a singing voice without expression is used as the base of morphing, and singing voices with three different expressions are used as the target. Through statistical analyses of perceptual evaluations, we confirmed that the proposed morphing algorithm provides perceptual continuity of vocal timbre. Our results showed the following: (i) gradual strengths in absolute evaluations, and (ii) a perceptually linear strength provided by the calculation of corrected intervals of the morph ratio by the inverse (reciprocal) function of an equation that approximates the perceptual strength. Finally, we concluded that applying continuity was highly effective for achieving perceptual naturalness, judging from the results showing that (iii) our gradual transformation method can perform well for perceived naturalness

Pressure ulcer surgery SSI risk factors

Aims : The most common postoperative complication when treating a pressure ulcer with a flap or primary closure is early wound dehiscence. In this study, we aimed to investigate the cause of early wound dehiscence and its associated risk factors. Early wound dehiscence was defined as the wound dehiscence within the post operation period where no weight or tension is applied to the wound. Methods : We conducted a retrospective study of 40 patients with pressure ulcers (69 sites). We calculated the significant difference in the incidence of wound dehiscence between the groups for the following 15 factors : age, obesity, emaciation, diabetes mellitus, smoking, ulcer site, musculocutaneous flap, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, presence of two or more types of bacteria, albumin level, C-reactive protein level, white blood cell count, hemoglobin level, operative time, and ulcer size. Results : Bacteria were detected in all wounds with early dehiscence, which was found in 28 (40.6%) of the 69 cases. C-reactive protein level, albumin level, musculocutaneous flap, and operative time were found to be risk factors for early wound dehiscence using the χ2-test and t-test. (P = 0.011, 0.045, 0.018, and 0.003, respectively). Conclusion : The cause of dehiscence was considered to be surgical site infection. C-reactive protein level, albumin level, musculocutaneous flap, and operative time may be risk factors of the occurrence of early wound dehiscence