Distribution of podoplanin-expressing cells in the mouse nervous systems.

Podoplanin is a mucin-type glycoprotein which was first identified in podocytes. Recently, podoplanin has been successively reported as a marker for brain and peripheral nerve tumors, however, the distribution of podoplanin-expressing cells in normal nerves has not been fully investigated. This study aims to examine the podoplanin-expressing cell distribution in the mouse head and nervous systems. An immunohistochemical study showed that the podoplanin-positive areas in the mouse peripheral nerve and spinal cord are perineurial fibroblasts, satellite cells in the dorsal root ganglion, glia cells in the ventral and dorsal horns, and schwann cells in the ventral and dorsal roots; in the cranial meninges the dura mater, arachnoid, and pia mater; in the eye the optic nerve, retinal pigment epithelium, chorioidea, sclera, iris, lens epithelium, corneal epithelium, and conjunctival epithelium. In the mouse brain choroid plexus and ependyma were podoplanin-positive, and there were podoplanin-expressing brain parenchymal cells in the nuclei and cortex. The podoplanin-expressing cells were astrocyte marker GFAP-positive and there were no differences in the double positive cell distribution of several portions in the brain parenchyma except for the fornix. The results suggest that podoplanin may play a common role in nervous system support cells and eye constituents.福岡歯科大学2013年

Challenges for Improving the Quality of Basic Education in Poor Areas : An Empirical Analysis of Chile's P-900 Program

The present study stems from a concern that disparities in the quality of education among different groups will soon constitute a major challenge for developing countries' basic education policies. As the world is getting keen on measuring the results of learning, disparities in student achievement are becoming increasingly evident between different income groups and urban-rural areas. How should developing countries tackle this issue, a long pending task even for donor countries? This paper examines Chile's P-900, a highly successful program for improving schools serving the poor. The P-900 targets schools of low performance that fall in the lowest ten percent of national achievement test results. Participating schools 'graduate' once they reach the regional average score. Although P-900 is considered effective, possible problems of the program remain unexplored, particularly its sustainability and universality of effect. The present paper quantitatively examines these two issues, explores possible reasons behind them, and draws some lessons on effective strategies for improving performance of schools serving poor children. Analysis of the national data provides evidence of the low sustainability of the program, and also confirms the limited effectiveness of the program for some schools. Schools that graduated from the program have lower score gains than others after the graduation. The number of P-900 schools which graduated but whose subsequent performance fell enough to be re-incorporated in the program is increasing rapidly. Schools that have been in the program for almost a decade have achieved significantly fewer score gains than others. Comparison of successful and unsuccessful examples of the program, using the detailed data obtained from the author's field survey, indicates that P-900 is effective in diversifying teaching methods and improving levels of self-satisfaction of slow learners. Yet other changes, such as improving teacher expectations and teacher attitude to students in class, are not thorough in the unsuccessful group. In conclusion, three challenges can be identified. First, strategies for sustaining improvement should be embedded in the initial design of a program. Second, more direct measures to guarantee pedagogical transformations inside classrooms are crucial for ensuring universal effectiveness. Lastly, one component of P-900 named TAP brings to light the importance of understanding and giving careful consideration to specific contexts surrounding a school and its students, and their educational needs

A Play-based Curriculum Introduced in Myanmar's Kindergartens: An Analysis of Classroom Practices, Teachers' Understanding, and Challenges

A play-based curriculum, one of the effective ways of promoting young childrenʼs development, was introduced to Myanmarʼs kindergartens for the first time in 2016. Although play is gaining popularity in early childhood education in the developing world, little is known about the transitional process from an academic learning-focused curriculum to a play-based curriculum in the contexts of developing countries. Therefore, this study aims to scrutinize the play-based curriculum in Myanmarʼs kindergartens by examining the extent of incorporating play in the intended curriculum, teachersʼ understanding of the new curriculum, the implemented curriculum inside classrooms, and the associated challenges. Qualitative methods are employed to answer these questions. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews with 27 teachers from five townships in central Myanmar and non-participant observations of 13 kindergarten classrooms in one of these townships. The results indicate that highly structured teacher-directed play constitutes most of play, both in the intended and the implemented curriculum, with little emphasis on free play. While teachers demonstrate a good understanding of the new curriculum principles, they apply them at very different levels within their classrooms. Even when practicing the play-based curriculum at a higher level, teachers plan and introduce play structurally, leaving few instances for childʼs initiatives. Much as teachers recognize the significance of play for child development, they seem to have merely replaced the academic learning activities of the previous curriculum with structured teacher-directed play. The major challenges to introducing the play-based curriculum include large class sizes, lack of parental understanding of the new curriculum, and inadequate support from inspectors, and some teachersʼ preference for the old curriculum. All this amounts to saying that Myanmarʼs kindergarten curriculum is still at the very onset of transition to a play-based curriculum, whose advanced forms should pay more attention and give value to who initiates and controls play