An Interdependence Approach to Empathic Concern for Disability and Accessibility: Effects of Gender, Culture, and Priming Self-Construal in Japan and New Zealand

An interdependence approach to empathic concern could transform the current societal environment for people with disability into a more accessible and equitable one. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate two possible factors influencing empathic concern, gender and ethnic culture, in specific helping scenarios. We first examined whether the female gender and collectivist culture of Japan were associated with higher levels of interdependence and empathic concern for disability than were the male gender and individualist culture of New Zealand. Empathic concern for people with impairment was assessed in accessible and inaccessible environments. Neither gender nor culture significantly influenced the level of interdependence, whereas gender and culture differentially moderated empathic concern. We also explored the possibility of altering self-construal and thus promoting prosocial behaviour by examining the correlation between self-construal and prosocial intention, and the effect of cultural priming on self-construal. The correlation was significant under inaccessible conditions in the Japanese sample, and the effect of interdependent priming was not significant on interdependent self-construal in both countries. Discussion centres on theoretical implications of the observed conditional support for the female-gender and collectivist-culture hypotheses, and on ways to promote prosocial behaviour, taking into account gender and cultural differences

C9orf72-derived arginine-rich poly-dipeptides impede phase modifiers

Nuclear import receptors (NIRs) not only transport RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) but also modify phase transitions of RBPs by recognizing nuclear localization signals (NLSs). Toxic arginine-rich poly-dipeptides from C9orf72 interact with NIRs and cause nucleocytoplasmic transport deficit. However, the molecular basis for the toxicity of arginine-rich poly-dipeptides toward NIRs function as phase modifiers of RBPs remains unidentified. Here we show that arginine-rich poly-dipeptides impede the ability of NIRs to modify phase transitions of RBPs. Isothermal titration calorimetry and size-exclusion chromatography revealed that proline:arginine (PR) poly-dipeptides tightly bind karyopherin-β2 (Kapβ2) at 1:1 ratio. The nuclear magnetic resonances of Kapβ2 perturbed by PR poly-dipeptides partially overlapped with those perturbed by the designed NLS peptide, suggesting that PR poly-dipeptides target the NLS binding site of Kapβ2. The findings offer mechanistic insights into how phase transitions of RBPs are disabled in C9orf72-related neurodegeneration

園芸学部研究業績紹介(目次)

<p>Multivariable analysis to determine prognostic factors for surgical failure of 2^nd operated trabeculectomy using Cox proportional hazards regression models among the successful 1^st operated eyes.</p

第1084回千葉医学会例会・第21回千葉精神科集談会

<p>The comparison of the successful 2^nd operated eyes versus failed 2^nd operated eyes among successful 1^st operated eyes, Criterion C: n = 30.</p

An inventory to assess empathic concern for disability and accessibility: development and preliminary psychometric investigation

Cultivating empathy and prosocial attitude towards disability is a first step for university students to become the leaders of society and professions to create accessible environments and inclusive society. Gauging levels of empathy and prosocial attitude towards disability among the students is important for evaluating the adequacy of disability training and education. We developed and conducted an initial psychometric validation of a novel inventory in Japanese and English languages to assess Empathic Concern for Disability and Accessibility (ECDA) in Japan and New Zealand. Preliminary psychometric evaluation indicates strong internal consistency in the Japanese sample (α = .96) and the New Zealand sample (α = .93). Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated a four-factor solution for both samples. The present study has resulted in the development of the ECDA that demonstrated initial support for internal consistency and construct validity. The ECDA may be used for the cross-cultural comparisons of disability training and education.Peer Reviewe