Changes in Piano Learners’ Perceived Cost of Learning Over Time: A Study of Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers

In professional childcare and teacher training, acquisition and improvement of piano proficiency are often included in the curriculum. However, various challenges have been reported. There has been substantial research into learning motivation, and several studies have reported that beginners tend to perceive a psychological burden regarding learning (Yoshimura & Shibasaki, 2015; Beppu, 2016). However, because these previous studies obtained measurements at only one point in time, the ways in which this perceived burden changes as learning progresses remains unclear. Therefore, the current study sought to examine changes in the perceived cost of piano learning (opportunity cost, psychological cost, and effort cost) using a longitudinal survey. A questionnaire survey was conducted twice with the same students, in October 2017, and July 2018. At the time of the first survey, participants were 172 freshmen. At the time of the second survey, participants were 168 sophomores. After excluding participants with missing data, 138 data-sets were analyzed. Analysis of variance revealed that a greater opportunity cost was perceived in the second year compared with the first year. Although the psychological cost did not change between the first and second years, the negative correlation between psychological cost and learning motivation was stronger in the second survey compared with the first survey. This finding suggests that this relationship may impede learning for students who had not previously studied piano. Regarding the effort cost, the results revealed a characteristic perception among students with more than 10 years experience learning keyboard instruments before entering a 2-year junior college program: although these students exhibited optimism regarding the effort cost in the first year, they perceived the necessity of effort in the second year because they experienced training at nursery school, or because the learning tasks changed from solo playing to playing accompanied by singing. These changes may cause an increase in the perceived burden of learning

Green Tea Epigallocatechin Gallate Exhibits Anticancer Effect in Human Pancreatic Carcinoma Cells via the Inhibition of Both Focal Adhesion Kinase and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I Receptor

The exact molecular mechanism by which epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) suppresses human pancreatic cancer cell proliferation is unclear. We show here that EGCG-treated pancreatic cancer cells AsPC-1 and BxPC-3 decrease cell adhesion ability on micro-pattern dots, accompanied by dephosphorylations of both focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) whereas retained the activations of mitogen-activated protein kinase and mammalian target of rapamycin. The growth of AsPC-1 and BxPC-3 cells can be significantly suppressed by EGCG treatment alone in a dose-dependent manner. At a dose of 100 μM which completely abolishes activations of FAK and IGF-1R, EGCG suppresses more than 50% of cell proliferation without evidence of apoptosis analyzed by PARP cleavage. Finally, the MEK1/2 inhibitor U0126 enhances growth-suppressive effect of EGCG. Our data suggests that blocking FAK and IGF-1R by EGCG could prove valuable for targeted therapy, which can be used in combination with other therapies, for pancreatic cancer

Impact of Anatomical Resection for Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Microportal Invasion (vp1): A Multi-institutional Study by the Kyushu Study Group of Liver Surgery

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the value of anatomical resectionfor HCC with micro-portal vascular invasion (vp1) between 2000 and 2010. Summaryof Background: Vascular invasion has been reported as a prognostic factor of liverresection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Anatomical resection for HCC has resulted in optimum outcomes of eradicating intrahepatic micrometastases through the portal vein, but opposite results have also been reported. Methods: A clinical chart review was performed for 546 HCC patients with vp1. We retrospectively evaluated the recurrence-free survival (RFS) between anatomical (AR)and non-anatomical resection (NAR). The site of recurrence was also compared between these groups. The influence of AR on the overall survival (OS) and RFS rates was analyzed in patients selected by propensity score matching, and the prognostic factors were identified.Results: A total of 546 patients were enrolled, including 422 in the AR group and 124 in the NAR group. There was no difference in the 5-year OS and RFS rates between the two groups. Local recurrence was significantly more frequent in the NAR group than in the AR group. In a multivariate analysis, hepatitis C (HCV), PIVKAII ?380 mAU/ml, tumor diameter ?5 cm and ?70 years of age were significant predictors of a poor RFS after liverresection. There were no significant differences in the OS or RFS between the AR and NAR groups by a propensity score-matched analysis. Conclusion: Although local recurrence around the resection site was suppressed by AR, AR for HCC with vp1 did not influence the RFS or OS rates after hepatectomy in the modern era

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

リズミカルな動きを伴う２歳未満の子ども同士の関わりの様相

This study aims to clarify aspects of interactions by using rhythmic movements among children under two years of age in a nursery school. We employed the concept of communicative musicality advocated by Malloch and Trevarthen (2009) as the theoretical framework for this study. The naturalistic observations were conducted in the nursery school classroom during the free play time allocated to the children. Three scenes in which children interacted with each other by using rhythmic gestures were extracted; these gestures were analyzed by employing episode analysis and movement analysis using ELAN. The results revealed that the children shared the musicality and emotion inherent the rhythmic movements of their partner and attempted to co-create a narrative. In order to establish interaction based on communicative musicality with rhythmic movements, attracting the intended person’s attention is a prerequisite; however, the study results show that it may be difficult for children of this age to become aware of this prerequisite, thus hindering establishment of their communication with their peers. The results also suggest that the intervention of a common object or matter enables children to understand the rhythmic movements’ inherent meaning.本論文は，the PECERA-HK Celebration of 25th Anniversary of HKSAR Establishment cum 22nd PECERA Annual Conference でのポスター発表に，加筆・修正したものである

Relationship between Students’ Perceptions of Teacher Support and Students’ Motivation in Music Classes

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between students’ perception of teacher support and students’ motivation in music classes. I conducted a questionnaire survey among 105 undergraduate and graduate students based on self-determination theory. The participants answered questionnaire items related to music classes when they were at junior high school. Factor analysis revealed two factors related to students’ perception of teacher support: support of relatedness and autonomy; and setting high value on learning music. The support of relatedness and autonomy had an effect on all types of students in music classes. By contrast, setting high value on learning music had a greater effect on students motivated by external, introjected or intrinsic regulation than those motivated by identified regulation. Therefore, depending on the autonomous level of their students, teachers should choose the more effective approach

The Effects of Learning Motivation on Lifelong Learning of Music

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that affect aggressiveness for the learning, intention to ontinue learning, and elevating sprit, and to investigate how those factors can influence lifelong music learning. A questionnaire is completed by people learn playing in chorus, playing taisyogoto, or wind instrument music. As the result of factor analysis, 7 factors that affect learning is found, as follows: “school education”, “finding value of learning”, “a sense that couldn’t learn music enough at school”, “competence”, “environment of learning”, “uneasiness about playing”, and “uneasiness about a sense belonging”. In addition, it is revealed that there are 3 orientations of learning as follows: purpose-in-life-orientation, participation-community- orientation, and music-activity-orientation. As a result of multiple regression analysis, it is shown that finding “value of learning” is one of important factor to promote lifelong learning of music. And for the person who learns with purpose-in-life-orientation or purpose-in-life-orientation, “environment of learning” has negative influence on elevating sprit. Additionally, it becomes clear that for the person learns with participation-community- orientation “uneasiness about playing” is a factor that disturbed aggressiveness for the learning