中学生の円滑なコミュニケーションを促す授業実践 : 自己理解と自己表現に着目して

コミュニケーション能力は，社会において他者と関わる上で必要な基礎的能力と位置づけられ，その育成への取り組みが求められている。本稿では，中学校１年生を対象とし，生徒に自己を多面的に捉え表現することを促す授業実践について報告する。また，同授業実践における自己の捉えの推移を分析したところ，自己への捉えを見直したり，自己を表現することの良さに気付いたりする機会となること，他者理解においても有効であることを示す

Student tendencies in communication : self-efficacy in schoolwork

社会において様々な集団に属している私たちにとって，コミュニケーションは必要不可欠である。本研究では，生徒の学業における自己効力感と学校生活でのコミュニケーション傾向の関係を明らかにすることを目的とした。その結果，自己主張に消極的な生徒は，攻撃的な生徒よりも学業における自己効力感が低いなど，学業における自己効力感とコミュニケーション傾向との関連が示された。Communication skills are necessary because humans belong to many different social 'groups'. The focus of this study was students’ self-efficacy with respect to schoolwork. This study aimed to investigate differences in communication tendencies at school with respect to students’ self-efficacy in schoolwork. It was found that self-efficacy in schoolwork and communication are to some extent related. For example, non-assertive students (failing to express one’s honest feelings) had lower self-efficacy related to approval of their schoolwork than aggressive students (forceful type of argumentation)

Epoprostenol Therapy for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by elevation of pulmonary artery pressure caused by pulmonary vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling, which leads to right heart failure and death. Epoprostenol (prostaglandin I2) has a potent short-acting vasodilator property, and intravenous continuous epoprostenol is therefore used for treatment of PAH. Here we review evidence for the usefulness of intravenous continuous epoprostenol therapy in patients with PAH. Epoprostenol therapy is effective in idiopathic PAH patients and in patients with PAH associated with connective tissue disease, portal hypertension or congenital heart diseases, but it is not effective in patients with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease or pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis. High-dose epoprostenol therapy markedly improved hemodynamics in some patients with PAH, possibly due to reverse remodeling of pulmonary arteries. This therapy has several side effects and complications such as headache, hypotension and catheter-related infections. Intravenous continuous epoprostenol is an effective treatment, but there are still some problems to be resolved

Consideration of Student’s Self-Understanding Using Egograms : From the Perspective of Changes in Assertive Behavior

本研究は，小学校６年生の児童の自己理解や対人コミュニケーション傾向に着目し，次の３点について検討した。第１に，エゴグラムを用いて児童の特徴を把握するともに，自己理解を促す働きかけを行った。第２に，児童の対人行動の特徴，特にアサーティブネスを測定し，エゴグラムとの関連を検討した。第３に，アサーティブネスに関する介入授業を実施し，行動変容が生じるかを検討した。 エゴグラムは，児童が興味を示しやすく，自己理解を深めるために有用なツールであると考えられた。アサーティブネスとの関連については，アサーティブな行動をとる児童はNPの得点が比較的高く，非主張型の児童はAの得点が比較的高かった。攻撃型の児童の中でも特に攻撃的な言動をとりやすい児童には，AおよびCPの得点が他より高い傾向があった。しかし，介入授業を行うことによって，攻撃型の児童の数は，有意ではないものの，減少した。This study investigated the self-understanding and communication style of sixth-grade students, focusing on three points. First, we used egograms to understand students’ personalities and promote their self-understanding. Second, we measured students’ assertiveness and investigated the relationship between assertive behavior and students’ egogram patterns. Third, changes in assertive behavior by intervention intended to promote reflection on one’s communication style were examined. The egogram is a potentially effective tool for increasing students’ self-understanding because the students were highly interested in egograms. Assertive students tend to score highly in the NP of egograms. Non-assertive students tend to get high scores in A. Especially aggressive students tend to get high scores in CP and A. Our intervention decreased the aggressiveness of the students who chose an aggressive style of communication

Relationship between Conformity Behavior and Communication Style: Analysis of Assertive Behavior in Junior High School Students

本研究では，仲間への同調のしやすさと，日常的なコミュニケーション傾向にどのような関連があるかを検討した。中学１・２年生の生徒159名を対象に，内面的同調と表面的同調のしやすさを，質問紙によって測定した。また，場面想定法を用い，学校生活で起こりやすい一対一でのコミュニケーション場面において，普段どのような言動をとっているかを記述させる質問紙調査を実施した。その結果，自分の考えや意見を言うことに消極的な非主張型の生徒は，強い自己主張をする攻撃型の生徒に比べ，同調しやすいことがわかった。また，性別による違いもみられた。特に女子において，非主張型の生徒は，攻撃型の生徒や，アサーティブな主張ができる生徒より，表面的な同調行動が多い傾向があった。このような生徒は，友人に配慮しようとし，自分の主張を抑制していると考えられる。This study investigated the relationships between conformity behavior and daily communication style. In total, 159 junior high school students participated in the investigation. Their internal conformity tendencies and external conformity tendency were measured by a conformity behavior scale. We examined participants’ communication styles using hypothetical situations. Participants were presented with three daily communication situations and asked what they would usually say. The results showed that students with a non-assertive communication style were more likely to conform to others than those who have an aggressive communication style. Especially, non-assertive female students tend to conform externally more than aggressive or assertive female students. This type of student might inhibit self-assertion to concern their friends

High-speed atomic force microscopy combined with inverted optical microscopy for studying cellular events.

A hybrid atomic force microscopy (AFM)-optical fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool for investigating cellular morphologies and events. However, the slow data acquisition rates of the conventional AFM unit of the hybrid system limit the visualization of structural changes during cellular events. Therefore, high-speed AFM units equipped with an optical/fluorescence detection device have been a long-standing wish. Here we describe the implementation of high-speed AFM coupled with an optical fluorescence microscope. This was accomplished by developing a tip-scanning system, instead of a sample-scanning system, which operates on an inverted optical microscope. This novel device enabled the acquisition of high-speed AFM images of morphological changes in individual cells. Using this instrument, we conducted structural studies of living HeLa and 3T3 fibroblast cell surfaces. The improved time resolution allowed us to image dynamic cellular events

Two regulatory steps of ER-stress sensor Ire1 involving its cluster formation and interaction with unfolded proteins

Chaperone protein BiP binds to Ire1 and dissociates in response to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. However, it remains unclear how the signal transducer Ire1 senses ER stress and is subsequently activated. The crystal structure of the core stress-sensing region (CSSR) of yeast Ire1 luminal domain led to the controversial suggestion that the molecule can bind to unfolded proteins. We demonstrate that, upon ER stress, Ire1 clusters and actually interacts with unfolded proteins. Ire1 mutations that affect these phenomena reveal that Ire1 is activated via two steps, both of which are ER stress regulated, albeit in different ways. In the first step, BiP dissociation from Ire1 leads to its cluster formation. In the second step, direct interaction of unfolded proteins with the CSSR orients the cytosolic effector domains of clustered Ire1 molecules

Epoprostenol sodium for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension

　The release of endogenous prostacyclin (PGI2) is depressed in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). PGI2 replacement therapy by epoprostenol infusion is one of the best treatments available for PAH. Here, we provide an overview of the current clinical data for epoprostenol. Epoprostenol treatment improves symptoms, exercise capacity, and hemodynamics, and is the only treatment that has been shown to reduce mortality in patients with idiopathic PAH (IPAH) in randomized clinical trials. We have reported that high-dose epoprostenol therapy (>40 ng/kg/min) also results in marked hemodynamic improvement in some patients with IPAH. High-dose epoprostenol has a pro-apoptotic effect on PAH-PASMCs via the IP receptor and upregulation of Fas ligand (FasL) in vitro. However, long-term intravenous administration of epoprostenol is sometimes associated with catheter-related infections and leads to considerable inconvenience for the patient. In the future, the development of new routes of administration or the development of powerful PGI2 analogs, IP-receptor agonists, and gene and cell-based therapy enhancing PGI2 production with new routes of administration is required

PirB regulates asymmetries in hippocampal circuitry

Left-right asymmetry is a fundamental feature of higher-order brain structure; however, the molecular basis of brain asymmetry remains unclear. We recently identified structural and functional asymmetries in mouse hippocampal circuitry that result from the asymmetrical distribution of two distinct populations of pyramidal cell synapses that differ in the density of the NMDA receptor subunit GluRε2 (also known as NR2B, GRIN2B or GluN2B). By examining the synaptic distribution of ε2 subunits, we previously found that β2-microglobulin-deficient mice, which lack cell surface expression of the vast majority of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) proteins, do not exhibit circuit asymmetry. In the present study, we conducted electrophysiological and anatomical analyses on the hippocampal circuitry of mice with a knockout of the paired immunoglobulin-like receptor B (PirB), an MHCI receptor. As in β2-microglobulin-deficient mice, the PirB-deficient hippocampus lacked circuit asymmetries. This finding that MHCI loss-of-function mice and PirB knockout mice have identical phenotypes suggests that MHCI signals that produce hippocampal asymmetries are transduced through PirB. Our results provide evidence for a critical role of the MHCI/PirB signaling system in the generation of asymmetries in hippocampal circuitry