The impact of a new exercise facility on physical activity at the community level: A non-randomized panel study in Japan

Background Considering that building a sports facility is a major investment to promote population health, it is important to understand whether it is effective in increasing the level of physical activity (PA) in the community. This study examined the impact of building a new multipurpose exercise facility on community-level PA in Japan. Methods This non-randomised panel study compared two sites: an intervention site where a new exercise facility was built (opened after baseline data collection) and a control site where there was no such additional exercise facility. From each site, 3200 adult residents (aged 30–74 years) were randomly selected at baseline (2013) and at follow-up (2015). The number of participants retained for analysis was 845 at baseline and 924 at follow-up for the intervention site, and 821 at baseline and 1018 at follow-up for the control site. The outcomes were participants’ self-reported PA, perceived availability of PA facilities, awareness of others being active, and willingness to engage in PA. We examined the interaction terms between the sites and time of measurement in regression analyses to examine whether the magnitude of change from baseline to follow-up differed between the two sites. Results The changes in the proportion of participants meeting the PA guideline and those engaging in moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA were not significantly different between the intervention and control sites. The intervention site had a greater increase in the proportion of participants who were aware of PA facilities from baseline to follow-up than in the control site. The odds ratio for awareness of others being active approached significance, suggesting that there was a tendency at the intervention site towards a greater increase in the proportion of participants who noticed physically active people. Conclusions This study did not find community-level increases in PA after the construction of the exercise facility. However, a significant improvement in the awareness of PA facilities was observed in the intervention site. A sustained community-level effort to promote PA, possibly including social components, and a further tracking of residents’ PA are needed to take a full advantage of the new exercise facility and to assess its long-term impact. Trial registration UMIN-CTR UMIN000034116 (retrospectively registered: 13 September 2018)

図画工作科における絵画制作及び描画学習の知的貢献についての研究 : 幼児から小学生の「見て描く」の有効性についての検証

本稿は、幼児から小学生にかけての造形教育について現状分析を行い、教育的内容の絵画制作分野である「描画学習」についての研究をまとめたものである。図画工作科における教科目標やねらいには一般の教師にとってわかりにくい抽象性がある事実を指摘して、わかりやすい絵画教育の目的を提示した。生活科の指導目標と比較しながら、「描く」ことの意義や意味を考え、図画工作科の中の絵画教育に「描く」ことの重要性と図画の大切さを、人間の視覚や記憶の関係から読み解き認知的側面で、教科の知的貢献について明らかにした。「見て描く」という可能性を幼児の描画実験により実証して視覚的リアリズムによる描画の可能性を見出した。幼児や小学生に「見て描く」をさせなくなった今の図画工作科のねらいや目標に問題を見出して、忘れてしまった「図画」本来の目的を知的貢献という教育的視点で解いた

幼児の造形活動と小学校図画工作科の内容分析 : 文部科学省検定済教科書に見る幼児課題との同一性と教育内容の変遷

本稿は、幼児期から小学校期における造形教育及び図画工作科における教育の内容や活動について、教員のアンケートや文部科学省認定済教科書に掲載された作品と活動内容から現状の分析を行った。その中でも特に絵画製作を焦点に、描画教育における不安材料を浮彫りにすることを目的としている。おおよそ35年前の昭和50年代の図画工作科教科書の内容と平成27年度使用の教科書内容を分析し、実際に子どもの描いた掲載作品等を比較して教育のねらいや目標についての検証を試みた。また教育内容をそれぞれの時間軸のみならず、年齢の軸を並列して達成された表現能力についても比較し分析をした。この数十年で大きな転換のあった図画教育について、子どもの作品から読み取り、その転換された教育内容の成果やその功罪について問題を提起している

Suzaku Observation of HCG 62: Temperature, Abundance, and Extended Hard X-ray Emission Profiles

We present results of 120 ks observation of a compact group of galaxies HCG~62 ($z=0.0145$) with Suzaku XIS and HXD-PIN\@. The XIS spectra for four annular regions were fitted with two temperature {\it vapec} model with variable abundance, combined with the foreground Galactic component. The Galactic component was constrained to have a common surface brightness among the four annuli, and two temperature {\it apec} model was preferred to single temperature model. We confirmed the multi-temperature nature of the intra-group medium reported with Chandra and XMM-Newton, with a doughnut-like high temperature ring at radii 3.3--6.5$'$ in a hardness image. We found Mg, Si, S, and Fe abundances to be fairly robust. We examined the possible ``high-abundance arc'' at $\sim 2'$ southwest from the center, however Suzaku data did not confirm it. We suspect that it is a misidentification of an excess hot component in this region as the Fe line. Careful background study showed no positive detection of the extended hard X-rays previously reported with ASCA, in 5--12 keV with XIS and 12--40 keV with HXD-PIN, although our upper limit did not exclude the ASCA result. There is an indication that the X-ray intensity in $r<3.3'$ region is $70\pm 19$% higher than the nominal CXB level (5--12 keV), and Chandra and Suzaku data suggest that most of this excess could be due to concentration of hard X-ray sources with an average photon index of $\Gamma=1.38\pm 0.06$. Cumulative mass of O, Fe and Mg in the group gas and the metal mass-to-light ratio were derived and compared with those in other groups. Possible role of AGN or galaxy mergers in this group is also discussed.Comment: 29 pages with 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ Vol 60, second Suzaku special issu

Liganded Thyroid Hormone Receptor Inhibits Phorbol 12-O-Tetradecanoate-13-Acetate-Induced Enhancer Activity via Firefly Luciferase cDNA

Thyroid hormone receptor (TR) belongs to the nuclear hormone receptor (NHR) superfamily and regulates the transcription of its target genes in a thyroid hormone (T3)-dependent manner. While the detail of transcriptional activation by T3 (positive regulation) has been clarified, the mechanism of T3-dependent repression (negative regulation) remains to be determined. In addition to naturally occurring negative regulations typically found for the thyrotropin β gene, T3-bound TR (T3/TR) is known to cause artificial negative regulation in reporter assays with cultured cells. For example, T3/TR inhibits the transcriptional activity of the reporter plasmids harboring AP-1 site derived from pUC/pBR322-related plasmid (pUC/AP-1). Artificial negative regulation has also been suggested in the reporter assay with firefly luciferase (FFL) gene. However, identification of the DNA sequence of the FFL gene using deletion analysis was not performed because negative regulation was evaluated by measuring the enzymatic activity of FFL protein. Thus, there remains the possibility that the inhibition by T3 is mediated via a DNA sequence other than FFL cDNA, for instance, pUC/AP-1 site in plasmid backbone. To investigate the function of FFL cDNA as a transcriptional regulatory sequence, we generated pBL-FFL-CAT5 by ligating FFL cDNA in the 5' upstream region to heterologous thymidine kinase promoter in pBL-CAT5, a chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT)-based reporter gene, which lacks pUC/AP-1 site. In kidney-derived CV1 and choriocarcinoma-derived JEG3 cells, pBL-FFL-CAT5, but not pBL-CAT5, was strongly activated by a protein kinase C activator, phorbol 12-O-tetradecanoate-13-acetate (TPA). TPA-induced activity of pBL-FFL-CAT5 was negatively regulated by T3/TR. Mutation of nt. 626/640 in FFL cDNA attenuated the TPA-induced activation and concomitantly abolished the T3-dependent repression. Our data demonstrate that FFL cDNA sequence mediates the TPA-induced transcriptional activity, which is inhibited by T3/TR

Submillimeter ALMA Observations of the Dense Gas in the Low-Luminosity Type-1 Active Nucleus of NGC 1097

We present the first 100 pc scale view of the dense molecular gas in the central ~ 1.3 kpc region of the type-1 Seyfert NGC 1097 traced by HCN (J=4-3) and HCO+ (J=4-3) lines afforded with ALMA band 7. This galaxy shows significant HCN enhancement with respect to HCO+ and CO in the low-J transitions, which seems to be a common characteristic in AGN environments. Using the ALMA data, we study the characteristics of the dense gas around this AGN and search for the mechanism of HCN enhancement. We find a high HCN (J=4-3) to HCO+ (J=4-3) line ratio in the nucleus. The upper limit of the brightness temperature ratio of HCN (v2=1^{1f}, J=4-3) to HCN (J=4-3) is 0.08, which indicates that IR pumping does not significantly affect the pure rotational population in this nucleus. We also find a higher HCN (J=4-3) to CS (J=7-6) line ratio in NGC 1097 than in starburst galaxies, which is more than 12.7 on the brightness temperature scale. Combined from similar observations from other galaxies, we tentatively suggest that this ratio appears to be higher in AGN-host galaxies than in pure starburst ones similar to the widely used HCN to HCO+ ratio. LTE and non-LTE modeling of the observed HCN and HCO+ lines using J=4-3 and 1-0 data from ALMA, and J=3-2 data from SMA, reveals a high HCN to HCO+ abundance ratio (5 < [HCN]/[HCO+] < 20: non-LTE analysis) in the nucleus, and that the high-J lines (J=4-3 and 3-2) are emitted from dense (10^{4.5} < n_H2 [/cc] < 10^6), hot (70 < Tkin [K] < 550) regions. Finally we propose that the high temperature chemistry is more plausible to explain the observed enhanced HCN emission in NGC 1097 than the pure gas phase PDR/XDR chemistry.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, 10 tables. Accepted to PAS

Establishment of a Drug Sensitivity Panel Using Human Lung Cancer Cell Lines

We established a drug sensitivity panel consisting of 24 human lung cancer cell lines. Using this panel, we evaluated 26 anti-cancer agents: three alkylators, three platinum compounds, four antimetabolites, one topoisomerase I inhibitor, five topoisomerase II inhibitors, seven antimitotic agents and three tyrosine kinase inhibitors. This panel showed the following: a) Drug sensitivity patterns reflected their clinically-established patterns of action. For example, doxorubicin and etoposide were shown to be active against small cell lung cancer cell lines and mitomycin-C and 5-fluorouracil were active against non-small cell lung cancer cell lines, in agreement with clinical data. b) Correlation analysis of the mean graphs derived from the logarithm of IC50 values of the drugs gave insight into the mechanism of each drug's action. Thus, two drug combinations with reverse or no correlation, such as the combination of cisplatin and vinorelbine, might be good candidates for the ideal two drug combination in the treatment of lung cancer, as is being confirmed in clinical trials. c) Using cluster analysis of the cell lines in the panel with their drug sensitivity patterns, we could classify the cell lines into four groups depending on the drug sensitivity similarity. This classification will be useful to elucidate the cellular mechanism of action and drug resistance. Thus, our drug sensitivity panel will be helpful to explore new drugs or to develop a new combination of anti-cancer agents for the treatment of lung cancer.</p

A Study on Comparison of Educational Contents of Arts and Crafts Courses in Regular Classes, Special Needs Classes, and Schools of Special Needs. –Teaching Methods of Art Design for Children with Intellectual Disabilities for Teacher Training–

本稿は，小学校と中学校の美術造形教育に関して，通常学級と特別支援学級及び特別支援学校との違いについて教員養成系学生の学びが現状に追いついているのかどうかを含めた調査から，その教育課題を明らかにして今後の教員養成に携わる教育研究者や学生へ問題提起をしている．小中学校の教育者になるために学部で学ぶ図画工作科や美術科の内容については，対象学年等の理解と造形の演目やそれらの指導方法論に関する知識を得る学生が多い小中学校へ配属された後に，初めて知的障害児への教育方法の壁にぶつかり悩む若い教員も少なくない．大学生の意識調査から現状分析や検証を行い，特別に支援を要する児童生徒への造形教育の方法を学ぶ経験が不足している実情があり，それらの学びの必要性を説いている．義務教育が終わるまでの美術造形教育については，通常学級と特別支援学級（学校）での方法論や教育内容についての横並びにした分析はあまり見られない．本稿では，美術造形についての教科教育に焦点をあてて，子どもの発達段階を踏まえ，文部科学省検定済教科書をながめつつ検証をした．また，知的障害児による実際の作品の中から抽出して，作品制作時のエピソードを紹介し，方法論を探り，作品理解についての持論を披露する．departmental bulletin pape