Change in tongue pressure and the related factors after esophagectomy: a short-term, longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Dysphagia is a prominent symptom after esophagectomy and may cause aspiration pneumonia. Swallowing evaluation after esophagectomy can predict and help control the incidence of postoperative pneumonia. The aim of this study was to clarify whether the change in tongue pressure was associated with any related factor and postoperative dysphagia/pneumonia in patients with esophageal cancer after esophagectomy. METHODS: Fifty-nine inpatients (41 males and 18 females; 33-77 years old) who underwent esophagectomy participated in this study. Measurement of tongue pressure and the repetitive saliva swallowing test (RSST) was performed before esophagectomy (baseline) and at 2 weeks postoperatively. The general data were collected from patients' medical records, including sex, age, type of cancer, cancer stage, location of cancer, operative approach, history of previous chemotherapy, surgical duration, amount of bleeding during surgery, incidences of postoperative complications, intubation period, period between surgery and initiation of oral alimentation, and intensive care unit (ICU) stay, blood chemical analysis, and lifestyle. RESULTS: Tongue pressure decreased significantly after esophagectomy (p = 0.011). The decrease of tongue pressure was significantly associated with length of ICU stay and preoperative tongue pressure on multiple regression analysis (p  CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in tongue pressure was significantly associated with the length of ICU stay, preoperative tongue pressure, and the incidence of dysphagia and pneumonia among inpatient after esophagectomy

Serotonin Improves High Fat Diet Induced Obesity in Mice

There are two independent serotonin (5-HT) systems of organization: one in the central nervous system and the other in the periphery. 5-HT affects feeding behavior and obesity in the central nervous system. On the other hand, peripheral 5-HT also may play an important role in obesity, as it has been reported that 5-HT regulates glucose and lipid metabolism. Here we show that the intraperitoneal injection of 5-HT to mice inhibits weight gain, hyperglycemia and insulin resistance and completely prevented the enlargement of intra-abdominal adipocytes without having any effect on food intake when on a high fat diet, but not on a chow diet. 5-HT increased energy expenditure, O2 consumption and CO2 production. This novel metabolic effect of peripheral 5-HT is critically related to a shift in the profile of muscle fiber type from fast/glycolytic to slow/oxidative in soleus muscle. Additionally, 5-HT dramatically induced an increase in the mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor coactivator 1α (PGC-1α)-b and PGC-1α-c in soleus muscle. The elevation of these gene mRNA expressions by 5-HT injection was inhibited by treatment with 5-HT receptor (5HTR) 2A or 7 antagonists. Our results demonstrate that peripheral 5-HT may play an important role in the relief of obesity and other metabolic disorders by accelerating energy consumption in skeletal muscle

幼少連携のカリキュラムについての一考察(その2) : 小学1年生の「朝の会」「体育」「音楽」の授業観察を通して

本研究では、入学まもない小学1年生の「朝の会」「体育」「音楽」の授業観察を通して、子どもたちの「とまどい」や「つまずき」に対して、教師がどのような対応をしているのかについて検討するものである。授業観察の結果、子どもの「とまどい」や「つまずき」があることが明らかになったが、教師は「児童一人ひとりの自覚を育み、場に応じた行動や態度や型」を身につけるように促す指導が随所に見られた。この「参加の型」についての指導は、本研究の「朝の会」「体育」「音楽」の授業観察場面の全てにおいて観察されたが、子どもにとっては、この「参加の型」の習得が大きな「段差」になっている場合もあるのではないだろうかと考えられる。今後の課題としては、幼稚園の年長クラスの保育観察を通して、接続期である幼稚園年長児から小学校 1 年生にかけての「段差」や「カリキュラムの一貫性」について検討していきたい。The purpose of this study is to investigate what "puzzlement" or "stumbling" the 1st graders of elementary school would feel. From the results of class observations on their 1st graders\u27 behaviors, it was revealed that that the children felt various "puzzlement" or "stumbling", although the teachers had already taken proper actions for it. However, since some of the children\u27s problems(or "barriers")continue after the 1st term, it remained uncertain whether the problems were too hard for the children to overcome or solvable with the passage of time. In the future, we will continue to explore the consistent curriculum focusing on the encouragement of children\u27s learning by observing 5-years-old children\u27s behavior in the preschool

幼小連携のカリキュラムについての一考察 : 小学1年生の「体育」「音楽」の授業観察を通して

本研究では、入学まもない小学1年生の「体育」「音楽」の授業観察や担任による子どもの行動への気づきを通して、子どもたちの「とまどい」や「つまずき」はどのようなものがあるのかを明らかにし、学びの芽生えの軸における一貫したカリキュラムについて検討するものである。 授業観察の結果や、担任による子どもの行動への気づきから、様々な子どもの「とまどい」や「つまずき」があることが明らかになったが、教師はすでに適切な取り組みをしていた。しかしながら、それらの子どもたちの「つまずき」は 1学期が終わっても、そのまま継続しているものもあるため、子どもにとって高すぎる「段差」であるのか、それとも、時間が経てば乗り越えられるのかどうかは明らかではない。 今後も授業観察を通して、子どもたちがその「段差」を乗り越えていけるのかどうか、さらには、幼児期の体育・音楽などの楽しい遊びが小学校の教科における知的好奇心として学習に組み替えられるにはどのような課題があるのかについて検討していきたいと考えている。The purpose of this study is to investigate what puzzlement or stumbling the 1st graders of elementary school would feel. Then, we will discuss the consistent curriculum focusing on the encouragement of children\u27s learning. From the results of class observations and the class teachers\u27 notice on their 1st graders\u27 behaviors, it was revealed that the children felt various puzzlement or stumbling, although the teachers had already taken proper actions for it. However, since some of the children\u27s problems (or "barriers") continue after the 1st term, it remained uncertain whether the problems were too hard for the children to overcome or solvable with the passage of time. In the future, we will continue to explore if the children will be able to overcome the problems by observing their classes in the next term

Insights into Land Plant Evolution Garnered from the Marchantia polymorpha Genome.

The evolution of land flora transformed the terrestrial environment. Land plants evolved from an ancestral charophycean alga from which they inherited developmental, biochemical, and cell biological attributes. Additional biochemical and physiological adaptations to land, and a life cycle with an alternation between multicellular haploid and diploid generations that facilitated efficient dispersal of desiccation tolerant spores, evolved in the ancestral land plant. We analyzed the genome of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a member of a basal land plant lineage. Relative to charophycean algae, land plant genomes are characterized by genes encoding novel biochemical pathways, new phytohormone signaling pathways (notably auxin), expanded repertoires of signaling pathways, and increased diversity in some transcription factor families. Compared with other sequenced land plants, M. polymorpha exhibits low genetic redundancy in most regulatory pathways, with this portion of its genome resembling that predicted for the ancestral land plant. PAPERCLIP

Novel Computational Design of Polymer Micromachined Insect-Mimetic Wings for Flapping-Wing Nano Air Vehicles

The flapping wings of insects undergo large deformations caused by aerodynamic forces, resulting in cambering. Insect-mimetic micro wings for flapping-wing nano air vehicles mimic these characteristic deformations. In this study, a 2.5-dimensional insect-mimetic micro wing model for flapping-wing nano air vehicles is proposed to realize this type of wing. The proposed model includes a wing membrane, a leading edge, a center vein, and a root vein, all of which are modeled as shell elements. The proposed wing is a 2.5-dimensional structure and can thus be fabricated using polymer micromachining. We conducted a design window search to demonstrate the capabilities of the wing. The design windows, which are areas of desirable design solutions in the design parameter space, are iteratively searched using nonlinear finite-element analysis under quasi-steady aerodynamic modeling. Here, thickness is selected as a design parameter. The properties of real insects, polymer materials, and fabrication conditions are used to determine the other parameters. A fabricable design solution that generates sufficient camber is found from the design windows

Application of Liquid-Phase Direct Fluorination: Novel Synthetic Methods for a Polyfluorinated Coating Material and a Monomer of a Perfluorinated Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

applied science

Seasonal variations in the call presence of bearded seals in relation to sea ice in the southern Chukchi Sea

The seasonal habitat use of bearded seals is important information in terms of conservation of this species. However, their distribution outside the breeding season has not been well documented. We investigated seasonal variations in the call occurrence of bearded seals by using passive acoustic monitoring in the southern Chukchi Sea, which has some of the greatest benthic biomass in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean. Underwater sounds were recorded between 2012 and 2015. Calls of bearded seals were detected from mid-September or early October to the end of each recording period (mid-May 2013, early March 2014, and mid-June 2015). Two peaks in call occurrence were noted; the first peak occurred during the open-water periods in November, and the second peak occurred during ice-covered periods. This suggest that bearded seals utilize the southern Chukchi Sea not only for the breeding site but also for the autumn foraging site. We could complement the information about the southward autumn migration pattern of bearded seals, and the southern Chukchi Sea was suggested as the south limit of bearded seals' autumn distribution. Additionally, their vocal activity during autumn in this site was suggested to have some role in social interaction. Our results indicated that the southern Chukchi Sea would be an important monitoring site for understanding the habitat use and the vocal activity of bearded seals, especially outside the breeding season